Pagan Powers Pelicans to Victory

July 11, 2022 by Sam Weiderhaft

At the beginning of every Minor League Baseball season, there’s a potential for “breakout” seasons. A player who isn’t expected to catch the eyes of fans, but ends up doing so. Being at the Single-A level, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans have the potential to capture those breakout seasons, being a player’s first taste of full-season baseball.

This season, that breakout has come from outfielder Ezequiel Pagan.

Opening Night of the 2022 season was not Pagan’s first time putting on the Pelicans uniform. The Puerto Rican spent two stints in Myrtle Beach during the 2021 season, playing 13 games in June and another 26 games in July and August, splitting his time during the summer with the Arizona Complex League Cubs. Pagan had a great start in June, hitting .297 before being sent to Arizona. When he came back up, Pagan hit .278 in July before taking a dip in August with a .173 batting average. He would finish the 2021 year back in Arizona.

The 22-year-old’s journey to Myrtle Beach started in 2018 when he was drafted in the 13th round by the Cubs out of the Puerto Rico ProBaseball Academy in Cayey. He spent his first two seasons in Arizona, playing 81 games at the Cubs complex in Mesa. 2019 was his best year, where he posted a .283 batting average with 19 stolen bases across 50 games. Following the cancellation of the 2020 MiLB season, Pagan started 2021 in High-A South Bend, playing just two games in early May with five strikeouts across seven at-bats. He would join the Pelicans a month later.

Following a 2021 season where he hit .336 in the Arizona Complex League and had an OPS of 1.019, it was clear that Pagan was ready for Single-A once again.

His fourth season in the Cubs organization didn’t start off great, with just eight hits in his first 51 at-bats through the month of April. He only struck out 11 times, as those outs turned into hits when the calendar flipped to May.

Pagan launched his first three home runs of the season while hitting .306 through 16 games in May, with the Pelicans winning 19 of 26 games. That would be the trailer for his movie of a month in June.

With eight multi-hit games, including five three-hit performances, Pagan hit .367 in June with an OPS of 1.069. He hit three more home runs with 27 RBI and was named the Cubs Minor League Player of the Month at its conclusion. Pagan’s month-defining game came in a seven-inning contest against the Delmarva Shorebirds on the evening of June 5th. The left fielder went 3-3 with a two-run home runs and an RBI triple, bringing in five total runs for the game.

As his hitting has continued into the month of July, it’s clear that South Bend can’t be too far away. Since the departure of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Pagan has been the consistent hitting force in a Pelicans lineup that has won the most games in Minor League Baseball. The breakout season is here, and Pagan will look to keep his momentum going throughout the rest of the campaign.