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

Just how fast was Tony Campana's inside the parker?

 

Even the most jaded, bitter Cub Fan could find joy in Tony Campana's inside the park home run yesterday.
Of course, the guy who misplayed Camapna's ball was Reds 3rd-string first baseman Yonder Alonso.
But lets take nothing away from Campana, because this play was fantastic.

Starlin Castro leads off the bottom first with a single, the only bad thing about that was it wasn't Koyie Hill so we could have seen Campana lap him...
Uh, anyway then lefty Campana hits a liner the opposite way past 3rd base that gets by Alonso as 40 Cub Fans point and yell, "Hey, the ball's over Yonder!" (sorry, couldn't help it)
And in a flash Campana was around all the bases for his first home run in the Bigs.
I didn't see it live, but I watched the replay at Cubs.com a bunch of times and then I thought man, how fast does he really get around those bases?
Got out a stop watch.
Okay, this is SOOOOOO imperfect (did they edit it? don't think so based on Len's call), but still interesting and you can do it yourself.
About 14.4 seconds.
To run 90 feet 4 times and then suffer the indignity of having one of your team mates pick you up like a child in the dugout.
This little gif above is actually semi-accurate - it takes that dot about 14.4 seconds to move about 4 inches.
Okay so 4 into 14.4 equals...uh...3.6.
Tony Camapna takes 3.6 seconds to run 90 feet?
Is that even possible?
Considering he's got to slow down to go around the turns and everything?
Somebody at TCR knows about these things, please tell me.
I can barely lift a Budweiser from my lap to my mouth in 3.6 seconds, and that's only if I'm afraid it's getting warm.

So...Cubs 4 Reds 3.
Perhaps adding to my fear for the future, the Cubs win their 6th in a row.
But Tyler Colvin gets a homer and Starlin Castro, a Chicago Cub, gets his NL-leading 146th hit.
The kids were pretty awesome yesterday.

Comments

Righty on the mound for the Reds, and Q starts three right handed hitters in the outfield?? How much longer will we have to live with this joke as a manager? I am to the point that I am hoping the Cubs lose a lot just so they don't bring Q back next year.

Vitters homered and is up to .282 and slugging about .450. Zeke DeVoss has walked and doubled in three PA's, playing second for Boise.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

I guess the jury is still out on whether or not "Camp Colvin" helped Vitters this year. Maybe it will be the difference late in the season. Vitters line prior to the game today// .278 .316 .441 Vs his minor league career averages// .276 .317 .437

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I don't think Vitters would be a major disappointment if he managed that line in the big leagues. I think everyone projected his ceiling to be a 300 hitter with 25-30 HR. Anyone who has tracked Vitters minor league journey knows that he was moved fast, which has diminished his career numbers. If he was allowed to finish out seasons once he got hot everyone would have a hard on for him moreso than Brett Jackson.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 8:57am. if he can stick at 3rd he'd be worth the time and slot invested, imo. turns 21 in a few weeks...he's got some growing to do still. ==================================== CRUNCH: Most organizations would have moved Josh Vitters to a corner OF spot by now. BTW, if Vitters had opted to attend college (he had signed an NLI with Arizona State) instead of signing with the Cubs out of HS in 2007, he would have finished his junior year at ASU last year and would have been eligible for the Rule 4 Draft again for the first time since 2007 in June 2010. And if the Cubs had drafted him again in 2010 (let's say), he would probably have been at Boise (or maybe Peoria) by the end of last season, and at Daytona right now. So he is ahead of where he otherwise would have been had he played college ball. The Cubs have been very aggressive with promoting Vitters, which has resulted in him struggling when he first arrives at the next-higher level, before settling in and adjusting. But each time he has been promoted he has adjusted, and that's why it is not a stretch to expect Vitters to also adjust to MLB once he gets there.

[ ]

In reply to by Rob G.

By necessity. It's true I don't like to rely on internet "scouts," who I suspect are mainly looking at the same box scores and tables as I am. I know that there's more to prospecthood than numbers, I'm just not sure what to do about it. I have argued that it's worth looking at postseason all-star teams, which is a single team, not a pair of teams, that is selected by managers, coaches, scorers, reporters--people who have actually seen the players play. I thought it was meaningful, for example, that Barney was named to the PCL team last year, indicating that he was the league's best shortstop. You didn't necessarily get that from the numbers. Then there are players who get promoted aggressively and always seem to be in over their heads. Vitters, maybe. Samardzija, for sure. But the reason they get promoted is that the organization really likes them. The organization should know, since it sees the player every day. I don't. Samardzija was never on my radar when I was looking for pitchers who had more strikeouts than hits allowed. In 485 minor-league innings, Samardzija gave up 486 hits--not bad--but only struck out 339. He was always pretty low in my rankings. This year in the majors, in 63.2 innings, he has given up 47 hits while striking out 66. Nice! Sometimes you have to trust the organization to know what they're doing. Another example might be LeMahieu versus Flaherty. Objectively, with defensive versatility similar to LeMahieu's and better power numbers, Flaherty is the better prospect. But I'm pretty sure the organization likes LeMahieu better. Of course, if management is all idiots, then it's a waste of time to analyze their actions. But I continue to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

"Vs his minor league career averages// .276 .317 .437" Somewhat misleading to quote his career averages, since he never went anywhere and actually hit those numbers--until this year. Two previous seasons, his numbers are up at the beginning of the season, then down after getting a promotion. Last year he hit .223/.292/.383 at Tenn, in a decent number of plate appearances, 228. This season at Tenn he's .284/.321/.455. I've been watching him for several weeks and I don't see the slump-proneness (consecutive days without a hit) that he always showed. This is the first time he's had a good August and a good second half. Something has changed, whereas I think the point you're trying to make by citing the aggregate numbers is that nothing has changed.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

I can't find a list, let alone a complete list. The problem is that the camp seems to go on in December and January, when Mesa is not populated by beat reporters. Fleita will sometimes be asked about the camp during the winter meetings or the Cub Convention. Here is Bruce Miles in December:
Farm director Oneri Fleita said about 12 players are attending a strength and conditioning camp in Mesa, Ariz., the club has named after outfielder Tyler Colvin. Fleita said big-leaguers Ryan Dempster, Jeff Samardzija and Darwin Barney are at the camp along with minor-league prospects.
Here is blogger Neil in Chicago Cubs Online in January:
The Cubs handpicked ten guys according to Oneri to participate in "Camp Colvin" earlier in the off-season. Darwin Barney, D.J LeMahieu and Logan Watkins were among the players and Ryan Dempster showed up as well. Before long 38 guys will be participating in what's been dubbed "Camp Colvin." When LeMahieu was there he put on 20 pounds and Barney added 18 pounds. Fleita jokingly said, why didn't we think of this 10 years ago. Tim Wilken pointed out that is the reason he stresses athleticism in the draft and amateur signings. It is called "Projection Scouting." When LeMahieu was drafted he checked in at 6'4" and 195 pounds. D.J. is up to 220. Wilken pointed out guys are going to get bigger and stronger. "Projection will come to fruition," according to Wilken. Josh Vitters has been out at "Camp Colvin." The Cubs feel he was really going in the right direction last year before an injury ended his season. Fleita explained that sometimes high school kids take awhile. Vitters started coming out of his shell and was interacting with his teammates.
Apart from Colvin, of course--who I assume was in attendance--the players named are having pretty strong seasons. Watkins is having something of a breakout year, especially if you start counting on June 1. Sorry, that's all I could find.

I was at the game yesterday and Campana is FAST! I watched the hit, saw it get by Alonso and then looked to see where Campana was and he was already halfway to third. All that said, it was inexcuseable for him not to catch the pop-up fly ball hit by Mike Leake that led to 2 runs. First of all, he was playing him (being a pitcher) WAY too deep and then must have gotten a horrible jump because the ball was hanging up in the wind and it landed about 60 feet outside the infield. With his speed, he should have caught it running in instead of having to lay out. That was poor... but the catch up against the wall was very nice!!

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

took a look at some game logs last night 5 SB's were off Alex Cobb, 2 off Juan Cruz (with Coco Crisp doing most of the damage) his first weekend against the Yanks 2 off Alex Cobb, 3 off J. Hellickson, 4 off David Price The David Price one is a little surprising, but I don't know if he's more Andy Petitte or more Rich Hill at holding runners. that being said, Maddon defends Chirinos at least last night "Our times to the plate were awful," said Maddon in regards to the less-than-speedy manner in which his pitchers got the ball home. " [Chirinos] had no chance. He had 1.5 [seconds] to the plate." Maddon explained that 1.5 seconds gives the catcher absolutely no chance to throw the runner out. "1.3 is average," Maddon said. "Like if you are 1.3 or better, that would be optimal; 1.2, 1.3 would be optimal. And we were like 1.5, and they got us."

Texas carried a 4-3 advantage into the ninth before the Indians rallied against closer Neftali Feliz (1-3), who had his sixth blown save in 28 chances. Kosuke Fukudome led off the ninth with a double off the glove of right fielder Nelson Cruz, who sprinted back to the warning track and nearly made a spectacular catch. Ezequiel Carrera's sacrifice bunt moved Fukudome to third, and Lonnie Chisenhall's single to right on a 1-2 pitch drove in Fukudome to tie it.

Of the 124 players to have made their Major League debut this season, eight are former Chiefs players. However only three — Tony Campana .277.313.340, Chris Carpenter 2.79 ERA,and D.J. LeMahieu .243 .243 .270— reached the Cubs roster. The others this season to reach the Majors are Al Alburquerque (Detroit) 5-1 2.34 ERA, Robinson Chirinos .300.378.425 45PA, Brandon Guyer 1/6 a HR(both Tampa Bay), Erik Hamren (San Diego) 2 ER 4 BB 2.2 IP and Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh) .263 .271.305 30 games. Hamren, a left-handed pitcher on the Chiefs’ 2009 playoff team was called up by the Padres this week.

[ ]

In reply to by navigator

Submitted by navigator on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 7:02am. Of the 124 players to have made their Major League debut this season, eight are former Chiefs players. However only three — Tony Campana .277.313.340, Chris Carpenter 2.79 ERA,and D.J. LeMahieu .243 .243 .270— reached the Cubs roster. The others this season to reach the Majors are Al Alburquerque (Detroit) 5-1 2.34 ERA, Robinson Chirinos .300.378.425 45PA, Brandon Guyer 1/6 a HR(both Tampa Bay), Erik Hamren (San Diego) 2 ER 4 BB 2.2 IP and Josh Harrison (Pittsburgh) .263 .271.305 30 games. Hamren, a left-handed pitcher on the Chiefs’ 2009 playoff team was called up by the Padres this week. ================================ GATOR: Erik Hamren is a RHP. He didn't show much as a RH middle-reliever in his two seasons in the Cubs organization, and he spent the 2010 season in Indy Ball before getting a second chance with SD this season. BTW, an interesting thing about Al Alburquerque is that although the Cubs did trade him for Jeff Baker in 2009, they could have got him back by claiming him off waivers when the Rockies outrighted him to the minors in April 2010, and even if they didn't claim him off waivers at that time, he also was available to all MLB clubs as a minor league 6yFA post-2010.

SS Castro, LF Campana, 3B Ramy, 1B Pena, CF Byrd, 2B DeWitt, C Soto, RF Colvin, P Wells dewitt is getting a decent amount of play time recently for a guy that was almost non-existent for a while...3 out the last 4 games he's found a way to get a start. and wtf is with lou/quade and soto's lineup position? it's one lou-thing i hoped quade wouldn't carry over. i get that he's slow, but he's slotted to get set up by guys who can't set up anything (even situational) too frequently.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Submitted by crunch on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 5:20pm. i honestly don't think they're doing that as some kind of policy. i just think it's nice they're at least seeing if dewitt's worth paying $500K-???K next year (1st arb year)...unless they've already made up their mind. as much as i'm not thrilled with colvin they have to do something about RF next year...and if early rumors are true most of the loot in 2012 should be going to 1st and a SP (barring a miracle trade). =================================== CRUNCH: Finding a Top-of-the-Rotation starter via trade or FA after this season is not going to be easy, but one thing the Cubs can do in-house is move Sean Marshall back to the starting rotation next season (at Spring Training). Marshall was developed as a starting pitcher in the minors and was a starter (at least part-time) for the Cubs in 2007-09, and he is a better pitcher now than he was then. While moving Marshall to the starting rotation would leave a hole in the bullpen, James Russell and either Scott Maine, John Gaub, or Jeff Beliveau should be able to provide the Cubs with a couple of adequate/capable lefty relievers (if not an 8th inning set-up guy to replace Marshall), and it should be easier to find an 8th inning set-up man/back-up closer to replace Marshall than it would be to to acquire a starting pitcher via trade or FA in what should be a rather mediocre SP market post-2011. Marshall will be a FA post-2012, so I would think he would be thrilled to get a shot at being a starter again next season as he approaches free-agency, since free-agent starting pitchers make more money than do relief pitchers (even really good ones like Marshall).

this is at least promising as far as being a cub one day for m.szczur (via his twitter) "superSZCZ4 Matt Szczur LOVE day games! 2 hours ago" also... "superSZCZ4 Matt Szczur Just a matter of time when people will start pronouncing my last name right 4 Aug" lulz.

"Yonder Alonso suffered an ankle injury when he stepped on sprinkler head while chasing a fly ball in Saturday's game." also, cairo is supposedly unavailable today (oblique)...and janish starting for b.phillips who is probably not available, dunno though.

from Bruce Miles ...The vibe I've been getting is that a solid starting pitcher will be atop the winter shopping list, whether trade or free agency.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Yeah, I was thinking about Rohan a little earlier. He's one of those guys who won't go away, even though he's not getting much encouragement from the Cubs. After doing fine at Peoria in his first full season last year, they sent him back again this year. He's 25, but if you're drafted at 23, what age do they expect you to be when you get in hailing distance of the majors? They finally promote him to Daytona a couple of weeks ago, and he has 6 homers and a full set of gaudy numbers in 18 games. He's starting to be interesting because the Cubs have a shortage of righty-hitting outfield prospects just now. (Wait a minute, I know I had one here somewhere--oh, yeah, that was Brandon Guyer.) If they dump Soriano and if Johnson's back forces him to retire, then there's Marlon Byrd and not much else until you get to Ha at Tennessee and Szczur and Crawford at Daytona. Rohan could step into that mix.

Recent comments

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Javier Assad started the Lo-A game (Myrtle Beach versus Stockton) on the Cubs backfields on Wednesday as his final Spring Training tune-up. He was supposed to throw five innings / 75 pitches. However, I was at the minor league road games at Fitch so I didn't see Assad pitch. 

  • crunch (view)

    cards put j.young on waivers.

    they really tried to make it happen this spring, but he put up a crazy bad slash of .081/.244/.108 in 45PA.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Seconded!!!

  • crunch (view)

    another awesome spring of pitching reports.  thanks a lot, appreciated.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    Here are the Cubs pitchers reports from Tuesday afternoon's Cardinals - Cubs game art Sloan Park in Mesa:

    SHOTA IMANAGA
    FB: 90-92 
    CUT: 87-89 
    SL: 82-83 
    SPLIT: 81-84
    CV: 73-74 
    COMMENT: Worked three innings plus two batters in the fourth... allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits (six singles and two doubles) walked one, and struck out six (four swinging), with a 1/2 GO/AO... he threw 73 pitches (52 strikes - 10 swing & miss - 19 foul balls)... surrendered one run in the top of the 1st on a one-out double off Cody Bellinger's glove in deep straight-away CF followed one out later by two consecutive two-out bloop singles, allowed two runs (one earned) in the 2nd after retiring the first two hitters (first batter had a nine-pitch AB with four consecutive two-strike foul balls before being retired 3 -U) on a two-out infield single (weak throw on the run by Nico Hoerner), a hard-contact line drive RBI double down the RF line, and an E-1 (missed catch) by Imanaga on what should been an inning-ending 3-1 GO, gave up another run in the 3rd on a two-out walk on a 3-2 pitch and an RBI double to LF, and two consecutive singles leading off the top of the 4th before being relieved (runners were ultimately left stranded)... threw 18 pitches in the 1st inning (14 strikes - two swing & miss, one on FB and the other on a SL - four foul balls), 24 pitches in the 2nd inning (17 strikes - three swing & miss, one on FB, two SPLIT - six foul balls), 19 pitches in the 3rd inning (13 strikes - seven swing & miss, three on SL, two on SPLIT, one on FB - three foul balls), and 12 pitches without retiring a batter in the top of the 4th (8 strikes - no swing & miss - four foul balls)... Imanaga throws a lot of pitches per inning, but it's not because he doesn't throw strikes...  if anything, he throws too many strikes (he threw 70% strikes on Tuesday)... while he gets a ton of swing & miss (and strikeouts), he also induces a lot of foul balls because he doesn't try to make hitters chase his pitches by throwing them out of the strike zone... rather, he uses his very diverse pitch mix to get swing & miss (and lots of foul balls as well)... he also is a fly ball pitcher who will give up more than his share of HR during the course of the season...   
     
    JOE NAHAS
    FB: 90-92 
    SL: 83-85 
    CV: 80-81 
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day... relieved Imanaga with runners at first and second and no outs in the top of the 4th, and after an E-2 catcher's interference committed by Miguel Amaya loaded he bases, Nahas struck out the side (one swinging & two looking)... threw 16 pitches (11 strikes - two swinging)...   

    YENCY ALMONTE
    FB: 89-92 
    CH: 86 
    SL: 79 
    COMMENT: Threw an eight-pitch 5th (five strikes - no swing & miss), with a 5-3 GO for the first out and an inning-ending 4-6-3 DP after a one-out single... command was a bit off but he worked through it...   

    FRANKIE SCALZO JR
    FB: 94-95
    CH: 88 
    SL: 83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 6th inning... got the first outs easily (a P-5 and a 4-3 GO) on just three pitches, before allowing three consecutive two-out hard-contact hits (a double and two singles), with the third hit on pitch # 9 resulting in a runner being thrown out at the plate by RF Christian Franklin for the third out of the inning... 

    MICHAEL ARIAS
    FB: 94-96
    CH: 87-89
    SL: 82-83
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and allowed a hard-contact double on the third pitch of the 7th inning (a 96 MPH FB), and the runner came around to score on a 4-3 GO and a WP... gave up two other loud contact outs (an L-7 and an F-9)... threw 18 pitches (only 10 strikes - only one swing & miss)... stuff is electric but still very raw and he continues to have difficulty commanding it, and while he has the repertoire of a SP, he throws too many pitches-per-inning to be a SP and not enough strikes to be a closer... he is most definitely still a work-in-progress...   

    ZAC LEIGH: 
    FB: 93-94 
    CH: 89 
    SL: 81-83 
    CV: 78
    COMMENT: Was called up from the AA Tennessee group at Minor League Camp for the day and tossed a 1-2-3 8th (4-3 GO, K-swinging on a sweeper, K-looking on another sweeper)... threw 14 pitches (11 strikes - one swing & miss - eight foul balls)... kept pumping pitches into the strike zone but had difficulty putting hitters away (ergo a ton of foul balls)... FB velo is nowhere near the 96-98 MPH it was a couple of years ago when he was a Top 30 prospect, but his secondaries are better...   

    JOSE ROMERO:  
    FB: 93-95
    SL: 82-84
    COMMENT: Was called up from the Hi-A South Bend group at Minor League Camp for the day and worked the 9th (14 pitches - only six strikes- no swing & miss) and allowed a solo HR after two near-HR fly outs to the warning track, before getting a 3-1 GO to end the inning... it was like batting practice when he wasn't throwing pitches out of the strike zone...

  • crunch (view)

    pablo sandoval played 3rd and got a couple ABs (strikeout, single!) in the OAK@SF "exhibition"

    mlb officially authenticated the ball of the single he hit.  nice.

    he's in surprisingly good shape considering his poor body condition in his last playing seasons.  he's not lean, but he looks healthier.  good for him.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.

  • videographer (view)

    AZ Phil, speaking of Jordan Wicks having better command when he tires a bit, I remember reading about Dennis Lamp 40 years ago and his sinker that was better after 3 or 4 innings when he would tire a bit and get more sink with a little less speed on the pitch.  The key for Lamp was getting to the 4th inning.