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James Triantos Has Turned From High School Phenom To A Top Cubs Prospect

By: Max Thoma

“It was a great day. I was getting to play with all my friends from high school that I’d grown up with, we’d been playing together since we were 7 years old and that was the last time we were going to get to play together,” said James Triantos. “So it wasn’t really nerves taking up the emotion it was just appreciating this last moment we all get to spend together. And making the most of it because there’s no point in being nervous when you’re with all your friends just having fun.”

Triantos is incredibly grounded for a 20-year-old and loves to talk about how much he loves getting to play the game of baseball along his friends. The above quote was his answer when I asked him about the high school state championship game he played in back as a senior at James Madison High School in Virginia.

I wanted to get a response about his performance, single-handedly willing his team to victory on a night I’m sure many will never forget. What I got instead was quintessential James Triantos: a selfless response of a kid who in his bones just wants to be out there on the diamond with his buddies as long as he can. a complete game to get the victory, allowing one run on the mound and scoring two runs himself on the other side.

The Chicago Cubs current number 11 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, finished his high school career with one of the best seasons anyone maybe ever has had. There’s video game numbers, and then there’s what James Triantos did in 2021.

In a season that will go down in the history book as one of the best in Virginia state history, the then shortstop batted over .700, breaking the singleseason school record with 11 homers, and he only struck out twice the entire season.

Oh and he pitched too.

The undersized right-hander dominated to the tune of a 9-0 record with a 1.18 ERA on the mound and a fastball that clocking in the mid-90s.

I remember when I was in high school we had a centerfielder who was a bit undersized too, he batted just about .300 as a senior in high school and was drafted in the second round by the Saint Louis Cardinals. Triantos had just batted over .700!

Like a Hollywood script, he saved his best for last.

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In the state semis Triantos got the ball on the mound and threw 6.1 innings of shutout baseball – not too shabby. But then he implored his head coach to give him the ball again the state championship, his coach obliged.

The Chicago Cubs had a couple scouts in the crowd that night and with the 56th pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Chicago selected the young phenom from Fairfax, Virginia.

“I was at home with my parents and two of my best friends just watching the draft and as I was on the phone talking with the Cubs about the next pick, one of my buddies walked in and started screaming about me potentially getting picked by the Giants, because he’s a big Giants fan,” Triantos said. “Everyone was like shut up he’s on the phone. I was extremely happy, gave my dad a big hug, gave my mom a big hug.”

Triantos then went out and did what he always did, wowed the crowd and left fans with a story so great they would be sharing it for many years to come.

Serving in the leadoff spot, Triantos scored the first run of the night after he had singled his first time up. His next time up, he homered.

But the pitching performance was actually more dominant, and frankly other-worldly.

The young righty sat down the side in order in the first, second, and third inning. Then he repeated that feat in the fourth, fifth, and sixth. All of sudden the teenager is just two outs from a perfect game on the biggest stage he’s played in. He would give up a home run to end the perfect game but would toss

Triantos had reclassified and committed to go play college baseball at the University of North Carolina. He told me his parents were stressed about the draft process but that in his mind he just wanted to keep playing baseball and everything else would take care of itself.

A second round selection and a $2.1 million signing bonus later and James Triantos was going to play professional baseball.