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

Cubs Use Long Ball to Reach the High Life

Nelson Perez smashed a gargantuan three-run homer high over the RF fence with no outs in the bottom of the 4th and John Contreras followed with a two-run shot over the LF fence and onto 8th Street later that same inning, giving the EXST Cubs all the runs they needed en route to an 8-4 kreusening of the EXST Brewers this morning at Fitch Park Field #3. The win was dedicated to the Chicago Cubs, who dropped two out of three to the Milwaukee Brewers this week at Wrigley Field   

RHPs Billy Petrick (on the AAA Iowa DL with shoulder weakness) and Grant Johnson (on the AA Tennessee DL with a sprained elbow ligament) continued their rehab, each throwing one inning of shutout ball in today's game. Both appear to be fairly close to returning to their respective clubs. 

The other pitchers who had outings today came back with mixed reults.

19-year old Dominican RHP Dionis Nunez gave up two runs on four hits before getting yanked out of the game mid-inning, and then he got chewed-out by one of the coaches on the bench before being allowed to go to the clubhouse. Not a good day for Dionis.

But 17-year old Dominican LHP Jeffry Antigua threw the ball very well again today while racking up four strikeouts in two innings of work, and 18-year old Dominican RHP Rogelio Carmona dropped some high octane yeast on Brewers hitters over his two innings. 

And RHP Kevin Kreier (who has pitched sparingly this Spring) threw the ball as well as I've ever seen him throw, throwing strikes and keeping the Brewers hitters off-balance with a nice assortment of pitches. Kreier was a 20th round pick of the Cubs in the 2006 June draft out of Foothill HS in Henderson, NV, but he had a horrible pro debut in 2007, going 0-1 with an 11+ ERA for the AZL Cubs (Mesa).

In addition to the N. Perez and Contreras long-balls, Carlos Perez had a nice day, going 3-4 (all singles) with two RBI at the plate, while throwing out three of the six base-runners who tried to steal against him. C. Perez, a 20-year old catcher from Venezuela with three years of pro experience (one in the DSL and  two in the AZL), is a definite prospect. He would probably be the #1 catcher at Peoria right now if Josh Donaldson wasn't in his way.  

In EXST Cubs roster news, RHP Todd Blackford (2007 TJ surgery) has completed his rehab and has been assigned to Peoria, following RHP Billy Muldowney who was moved up to Peoria from EXST earlier this last week. (Some of you may remember Blackford as one of the two pitchers acquired by the Cubs from Atlanta in the Todd Hollandswoth deal a couple or three years ago).  

In addition, RHPs Francisco Acosta and Jose Severino were sent home to the Dominican Republic after being involved in an off-the-field fight (with each other), and RHP Scott Taylor (at Fitch Park while serving a 50-game prohibited substance suspension) was sent home after violating a team rule. Acosta and Severino will likely pitch for one of the two DSL Cubs teams (although hopefully not both on the same one!), while Taylor's future is less clear, although I can say almost absolutely, positively for sure that Taylor will NOT be pitching in the Dominican Summer League . 

On the injury front, Iowa 1B Micah Hoffpauir (on the DL with an oblique strain suffered just prior to Openng Day) and Tennessee 1B Matt Craig (on the DL with a leg injury) are both at Fitch Park. Hoff-POWER! is still in the early stages of rehab and is not yet swinging a bat (at least he's not taking BP), and Craig is limping around Fitch Park in shorts and flip-flops, so I wouldn't expect to see him getting into any game action for a while, either.

Both 2B Jeffrey Rea (strained quad) and LF Brandon Guyer (fractured elbow) are taking BP, but neither are playing in EXST games at this time  Rea (at EXST rehabbing a sore arm) was all set to go to Peoria last week before straining a quad while running the bases the day before he was scheduled to depart, so he is probably on suicide watch right now.

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

LINEUP:
1a. Cesar Salazar, DH #1: 1-2 (R, HBP)
1b. Roberto Sabates, PH: 0-1
2. Gian Guzman, 2B-SS: 1-3 (2 R, BB, SB, K)
3. Carlos Perez, C: 3-4 (2 RBI, R)
4. Nelson Perez, RF: 1-4 (HR, 3 RBI, R, K)
5. Luis Bautista, 1B: 0-3 (R, HBP)
6. Kevin Soto, CF: 0-3 (R, BB, 2 K)
7a. Luke Sommer, LF: 0-3 (K)
7b. Andres Quezada, LF: 0-1
8. John Contreras, 3B: 1-2 (HR, 2 RBI, R, 2 BB, K)  
9. Junior Lake, DH #2: 2-3 (3B, RBI, BB)
10a. George Matheus, SS: 1-2
10b. Starlin Castro, 2B: 0-2 (K)

PITCHERS:
1. Billy Petrick - 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP, 1 GIDP
2. Grant Johnson - 1.0 IP, 0 H. 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
3. Jeffry Antigua - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K
4. Dionis Nunez - 1.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR
5. Rogelio Carmona - 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
6. Kevin Kreier - 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K

ERRORS: NONE

CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Carlos Perez: 3-6 CS

WEATHER: Hot & sunny, and not quite as breezy as it was the last couple of days. 

ATTENDANCE: 17, including 14 adults, two children (both appeared to be pre-schoolers), and one dog. There also was a curious absence of the usual coterie of pigeons, which remains unexplained at this time.

Comments

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • 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...