Tennessee Smokies Clinch the Division on a Pablo Aliendo Walk-Off Hit! – Bleacher Nation

Perhaps you need a palate cleanser after last night. Perhaps you just want to start your Wednesday off with a smile. So here you go.

Not only did the Tennessee Smokies make a number of fun additions to their roster yesterday. Not only did the Smokies then win their game. And not ONLY did the win clinch the Second Half North Division for the Smokies. But also, it was a walk-off:

Catching prospect Pablo Aliendo, who has been joined on the roster by fellow catching prospect Moises Ballesteros, sends one to the wall to walk it off. Looked like the first thing he wanted to do was to show off his custom Obvious Shirts shirt under his uniform. Perhaps it spoke to that particular moment for him: “It’s Part of the Life.” Hey, if he wants to make walk-off hits part of his baseball life on the regular, that’d be fine by me.

Aliendo, 22, has hit .231/.335/.462/110 wRC+ this year, which will certainly keep him on the prospect radar going into 2024. Although he is Rule 5 eligible, I’m not sure he’s a realistic risk to get plucked in the draft because it’s almost impossible to ask a 22-year-old catcher to jump straight from Double-A to the big leagues and help handle a pitching staff. My guess is he does not get a spot on the 40-man, and the Cubs roll the dice that he’s still around come January. At that point, he’ll get the bump to Triple-A Iowa to open the 2024 season, likely paired with a veteran catcher or two as depth (right now at Iowa, the Cubs have P.J. Higgins and Bryce Windham, each of whom could conceivably still be on the team next year).

Back to the Smokies, who’ll start their postseason in a week. The lineup can now feature a truly absurd assortment of prospects, including Aliendo, Ballesteros, Owen Caissie, James Triantos, Matt Shaw (who had three hits in the game), Kevin Alcántara, Haydn McGeary (who homered in the game), B.J. Murray Jr. (who homered in the game), Christian Franklin, and more. I’m not sure I can recall seeing a Cubs affiliate be able to field a 1-9 batting order with all top-30 prospects at the same time, let alone at a time when squeezing into the top-30 in the system is a tough feat.