Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full) 

28 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, and twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors. 

Last updated 3-26-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 15
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
Alexander Canario
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman 

OPTIONED: 12 
Kevin Alcantara, OF 
Michael Arias, P 
Ben Brown, P 
Alexander Canario, OF 
Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF 
Brennen Davis, OF 
Porter Hodge, P 
* Matt Mervis, 1B 
Daniel Palencia, P 
Keegan Thompson, P 
Luis Vazquez, INF 
Hayden Wesneski, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

Ha Stays Hot, and Crawford Saves the Day

Delbis Arcila, Oliver Zapata, and Evan Crawford ripped consecutive two-out doubles in the bottom of the 8th inning, plating first the tying run and then the go-ahead run, as the Cubs rallied to edge the Angels 8-7 in AZ instructional League action at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa this afternoon.  

Crawford went 3-5 with two singles and a double, a stolen base, two runs scored, and the game-winning RBI, while Jae-Hoon Ha continued his hot hitting, going 3-4 with two singles and a double, one run scored, and an RBI. Hak-Ju Lee also reached base three times on a single and two walks, and extended his errorless game streak to ten (he has yet to commit in an AZ Instructional League game) this season.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead against Cubs starter Robinson Lopez in the top of the 1st inning on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Eric Oliver and Kaleb Cowart, but the Cubs came right back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the 1st as Evan Crawford reached base on an error, advanced to 3rd base on a hit & run single to center by Hak-Ju Lee, and scored on a ground ball RBI single to RF by Max Kwan. Lee then scored on a Ryan Cuneo sacrifice fly to tie the score at two.

Meanwhile, Cubs pitchers retired 14 Angels in a row at one point, as LHP Brian Smith had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts (Smith had a 45.00 ERA and 6.00 WHIP coming into the game) and RHP Ryan Hartman set-down nine in a row.

The Cubs took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the 6th when Ryan Cuneo drew a one-out walk and advanced to 3rd on a Jae-Hoon Ha double into left-center, before scoring on an errant throw by the Angels catcher, who was trying to pick Cuneo off 3rd base. Xavier Batista drove-in Ha with an RBI single, and the third and final run of the inning scored on a 6-4 FC.

But RHP Dustin Fitzgerald gave the three runs right back in the top of the 7th, only to have the Cubs push across the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 7th on a two-out RBI single by Ha. Then Fitzgerald got into more hot water in the top of the 8th, as Jeremy Cruz hammered a two-out two run double to give the Angels a 7-6 lead (Fitzgerald allowed three singles, three doubles, and a triple in 1.2 IP).

However, the Cubs were not finished, as Arcila-Zapata-Crawford smacked their back-to-back-to-back doubles with two outs in the bottom of the 8th to give the Cubs back the lead, and Starlin Peralta retired the Angels 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th to preserve the victory.

Here is today’s abridged box score (Cubs players only):

LINEUP:
1. Evan Crawford, DH #1: 3-5 (E5, 6-4-3 GIDP, 1B, 1B, 2B, RBI, 2 R, SB)
2. Hak-Ju Lee, SS: 1-3 (1B, BB, K, K, BB, R, SB, PO)
3a. Max Kwan, C: 1-3 (1B, K, K, RBI)
3b. Micah Gibbs, C: 0-2 (FC+E4, P-5)
4. Ryan Cuneo, 1B: 1-2 (F-9 SF, 2B, BB, F-7, RBI, R)
5. Jae-Hoon Ha, CF: 3-4 (1B, 5-3, 2B, 1B, RBI, R)
6a. Logan Watkins, 2B: 0-2 (4-6 FC, F-7, HBP, R)
6b. Gioskar Amaya, 2B: 0-1 (P-4)
7. Xavier Batista, RF: 1-4 (5-3, F-9, 1B, 5-3, RBI)
8. Willson Contreras, 3B: 1-3 (1B, F-9, HBP, K)
9. Delbis Arcila, DH #2: 1-4 (1-3, 4-3, 6-4 FC, 2B, RBI, R)
10. Oliver Zapata, LF: 2-4 (1B, K, 5-3, 2B, RBI, R)

PITCHERS:
1. Robinson Lopez: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, 47 pitches (29 strikes), 4/2 GO/FO
2. Brian Smith: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 12 pitches (8 strikes), 1/0 GO/FO
3. Ryan Hartman: 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 31 pitches (21 strikes), 0/7 GO/FO
4. Dustin Fitzgerald: 1.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R (5 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 42 pitches (28 strikes), 1/2 GO/FO
5. Starling Peralta: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 19 pitches (9 strikes), 1/1 GO/FO

ERRORS: NONE

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Max Kwan: 0-2 CS
Micah Gibbs: 2-2 CS

=================================================

ATTENDANCE: 16

WEATHER: Sunny & breezy, with temperatures in the 90’s

 

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

But he's got the power to atone for a few more swings and misses. And although he strikes out more than Castro did, he isn't K-prone at all. His K% is well under 20%, which is perfectly fine if the power shows up. It's that horrible walk rate that needs to improve before he can go anywhere. I like seeing the 2 for 2 CS from Gibbs. Anytime you can have a legitimately strong defensive backup C, it's a good thing. Not convinced his bat will ever be close to good enough to be a starter.

gets the Mariners job... Imagine Cubs will make a cursory run at Girardi before giving it to Quade with the possible Quade/Sandberg combo looming.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    There are two clear "logjams" in the Cubs minor league pipeline at the present time, namely AA outfielders (K. Alcantara, C. Franklin, Roederer, Pagan, Pinango, Beesley, and Nwogu) and Hi-A infielders (J. Rojas, P. Ramirez, Howard, R. Morel, Pertuz, R. Garcia, and Spence, although Morel has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield in addition to infield). So it is possible that you might see a trade involving one of the extra outfielders at AA and/or one of the extra infielders at Hi-A in the next few days. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    18-year old SS Jefferson Rojas almost made the AA Tennessee Opening Day roster, and he is a legit shortstop, so I would expect him to be an MLB Top 100 prospect by mid-season. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Among the relievers in the system, I expect RHRP Hunter Bigge at AAA Iowa and RHRP Ty Johnson at South Bend to have breakout seasons on 2024, and among the starters I see LHP Drew Gray and RHP Will Sanders at South Bend and RHP Naz Mule at ACL Cubs as the guys who will make the biggest splash. Also, Jaxon Wiggins is throwing bullpen sides, so once he is ready for game action he could be making an impact at Myrtle Beach by June.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    I expect OF Christian Franklin to have a breakout season at AA Tennessee in 2024. In another organization that doesn't have PCA, Caissie, K. Alcantara, and Canario in their system, C. Franklin would be a Top 10 prospect. 

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    The Reds trading Joe Boyle for Sam Moll at last year's MLB Trade Deadline was like the Phillies trading Ben Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson at the MLB TD in 2022.