Jeimer Candelario Knows Patience Will Be Key Skill

When third baseman Jeimer Candelario got his World Series ring while at Triple-A Iowa in April, it gave him as many World Series rings as big league hits.

But despite hitting .340 through his first 28 Triple-A games, Candelario’s future with the club might be the hardest to project among any of the system’s prospects.

“Sometimes guys like that force you to do things,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “We just have to evaluate how he fits among the guys that we have.

“With guys like (Candelario), it’s difficult when you’re playing within a group that has young players on the major league level also playing well.”

Nobody knows that better than Candelario, 23, who signed out of the Dominican Republic in 2010 and counts patience among his best virtues.

“Always stay patient,” said Candelario, who also knows his way to a lasting stay in the majors might wind up coming in a trade. The Cubs could put some of their young bats on the block to acquire pitchers they don’t have at the top of the system.

“Right now I’ve just been concentrating on being the best—right now—that I can be, and everything’s going to take care (of itself),” he said. “I can’t take anything for granted. I have to work hard.”

It was fitting that Candelario’s first big league game in 2017 came literally as the Cubs’ 26th man. He was added to the roster for a May 9 doubleheader in Colorado.

He doubled his career hit total in his first at-bat that night, leading off a five-run inning with a single and later drawing a bases-loaded walk in the same inning. He also made a dazzling play at third.

But what comes next for one of the most developed, mature hitters in the system?

The answer might come this summer at the trade deadline.

— Gordon Wittenmyer covers the Cubs for the Chicago Sun-Times