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

A PCL Pitchers' Duel!?

It's a shame there weren't more people there to see it because duels of legitimate pitching prospects like the one that played out last night at Principal Park are rare in the homer-happy Pacific Coast League.

 The mundanely named Bud Norris and your own fighting Irishman with Samardzija scrabbled on his mail fought each other to a 2-2 standoff before Round Rock eventually prevailed 7-5.

For his part, Samardzija looked every bit the big leaguer in waiting as he carved his way through the Texans' lineup to the tune of six innings, one walk, five strikeouts, less than six dozen pitches and a lone hit, that unfortunately being a two-run homer by Reggie Abercrombie who would later blast an encore that put his team ahead to stay.

Samardzija offered first pitch strikes to 12 of the 21 hitters he faced and 49 of his mere 71 pitches were strikes.

His inning by inning pitch counts broke down thusly: 11,13,9,9,18, and 11. Abercrombie's homer followed a two-out walk in the 5th.

Samardzija hit more batters [2] than hit him.

The prodigious Jake Fox smote a tying two-run blast beyond the center field wall in the bottom of the sixth to swell his RBI total to 20 already in only 10 games. That finished Norris, Houston's #2 prospect, who appears as tenacious and hard-throwing as his counterpart. Both were throwing in the low to mid 90's and one can imagine them opposing each other in Houston and Chicago before much longer.

Between the 6th and 7th innings I spotted a very high-ranking Chicago Cub official in the seats directly behind home plate and wandered down to see if I might pick a little at his large brain. I introduced myself by name and affiliation.

"After the game," he said, "I'm working right now." as though he were a player and I an autograph hound. I said I didn't mean to interrupt; just thought I could ask a couple quickies between frames.

"Whaddaya wanna ask?" he gasped as his eyes rolled.

"Does Jake Fox have a big league future with this organization? Are other teams interested in him?"

"That's none of your business." the wheeler-dealer said. "Do you expect me to tell you what teams have asked me about him?"

"No," said I. "I just wondered if there's interest in him."

"Jake Fox is a big league hitter." he declared in summation.

Then followed an even briefer, but no less pleasant, discourse about young Mr. Samardzija's progress after which I thanked him for his time and left him to enjoy what remained of what I like to call the "I think my husband's home" race in which contestants scramble to dress themselves in a uniform ASAP and lunge across a finish line in pursuit of a gift certificate for a free oil change.

I hope the high-powered observer enjoyed the 7th inning stretch, by which time Samardzija had showered and I was on my way to a late showing of "State of Play". Russell Crowe also looked very sharp...MW

Comments

I just cannot believe that Joey Gathright is more valuable on the Cubs bench than Jake Fox would be.

Thanks Iowa Mike! Jake Fox is clearly a major-league hitter. This brings up a question: Just how bad is he defensively? He started his career as a catcher, but presumably shed the tools of ignorance because he was terrible. Even a bad defensive catcher with a good bat gets a major league job. He has played some LF and RF; I'm sure he's not a good outfielder, but how bad? Are we talking Carlos Lee bad, Adam Dunn bad, or a whole new level of stink? He's AL trade bait

[ ]

In reply to by Q-Ball

AZ Phil's spring training reports pretty much summed him up as uncapable of playing any defensive position on the field. What he lacks in skills is only dwarfed by his complete defensive ineptitude. And I'm pretty sure that's how the Cubs think about him as well. Seems like you could hide him at 1b maybe, but he's #3 on that depth chart in this organization.

Well, Big Jake has played errorless ball @ 1B so far, but there was a play in Friday night's game that perhaps spoke to his defensive instincts, or lack thereof. He waited on a slow roller up the line instead of charging it, allowing the ball to eventually carom off the bag. That resulted in what looked like a scramble to recover a fumble between Fox & pitcher Randy Wells - luckily Wells came up w/ the ball & got a toe on the base in time to nip the runner...

COTTS WATCH: TCR alert to see when Cotts gets sent down. Keep watching the "wires" boys. I was thinking about the Gathright AB yesterday. There were better LH hitters on the bench, but in Lou's mind, he may have thought that he gives the club a chance on a grounder or IF slow-roller. However, with a swinging K, there was no chance. I also wondered if a suicide bunt would have had a chance - however, a force at any base with the bags juiced makes this a difficult proposition. It was a terrible AB any way ya slice it. It is going to be a long season if the starters cannot go deeper. And, Jim Hendry fucked the Cubs with the Demp deal. At the rate he is going, 12 wins will be a long shot.

Questions: 1. Did you offer the high ranking Cubs official some donuts? 2. Is Jake Fox the White Sam Horn for the new Millennium?

All I offered was my hand in friendship...as for Jake Fox/Sam Horn, yeah, ebony & ivory; the one-syllable sluggers - one punch knocker-outers

Was it obvious who the high ranking official was? or is it a secret? He sounds like a dick. Hendry is high ranking. Fleita is a dick.

Jason Waddell is the lead lefty in the Iowa pen; unscored upon in 4 outings w/ 0 WALKS over a scant 3&1/3...hasn't worked in either of the 2 home games so far, but imagine Hendry would want a look @ him if they were gonna drive back to Chicago together...

Hey, Mike. I asked this in a past post, but I think it may have gotten lost in a discussion on Milton Bradley and overreactions, so here I go again: Nate Spears started at SS the other day. Have you seen him play any SS? How does he look? He sure seems to be a Fontenot Lite (if that's possible), so I would guess that if he's passable at SS that gives him a much better chance of seeing the majors (particularly with the Cubs).

Charlie - Spears has started so far @ 3B, 2B & SS; his path may be as a utility-type spare part...note that he won the 'best hustler' award last year in the Southern League which, assuming it was deserved, makes him my kind o' ballplayer - no surprise that MLB bestows no equivalent award these days...

that "affiliation" thing might be your downfall with the returned attitude...esp. if you weren't talking to a low-level scout who can generally be bought off with a stadium beer or nachos (ha). over the past few years bloggers have "used" too many scouts for their sources and if you think the Tribune releasing rumors are a sore spot, they can at least be taken care of with a direct call to the reporter with a number already at hand (and a pre-existing relationship). when/if you get deemed a non-threat or someone that uses their sources in a non-drama-inducing way things generally get better. i got little experience dealing with the high-end talent evaluators, though. as gruff as some can be you at least got some good stuff outta him.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

While I'd also like to pick his brain, I have no problem with him keeping his cards close. It'd be silly to let the rest of the league know what you want to do. Plus, if he told us exactly what he was going to do, we'd all have to go back to discussing that 3-2 Bradley pitch... Or conservative v liberal stuff... Or NFL wide recievers... Or France! (what happend to Karl anyhow?)

"That's none of your business." the wheeler-dealer said. "Do you expect me to tell you what teams have asked me about him?" the "wheeler-dealer" comment makes it pretty obvious imo that it was hendry that he met with.

Just saw Woody pitching for the Tribe on TBS. K's Posada on three pitches. Sigh - I wish they coulda worked something out between each other (Hendry/KW).

An excellent decision - it's been raining pretty hard here over the past 4 hours, no need to risk more injuries this early in the season.

could baseball-reference.com cram more useless stuff into their webpage? if you're like me and highlight stuff to read it better (small black text on a white background...brilliant) then you churn away background processes that aggregate years into a pop-up. i like the OPTION of being able to do that, but geez...first it's made harder to read then the things i do to read it better are negated. i'm sure i can block it like those sites that think if i want to highlight text means i need a dictionary or websearch (very very very lame)...but still... i miss html 3.2... ...and don't get me started on the VERY useless flash-based-only sites. i could care less how "pretty" my internet experience is with someone's brand if i can't find the info i need off their site without clicking through a mountain of pictures and dropdown menus using hover-over technology.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Firefox with Flashblock.

[ ]

In reply to by Mister Whipple

it's not flash driven...it's a script that does it. i basically blocked all scripts on baseball-reference.com with ABP coming from the problem area... http://www.baseball-reference.com/js/* mainly, im sick of seeing web pages get more bloated without me being able to define how bloated i want my experience.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Have you looked into Greasemonkey? Someone may have already used it to build a script that disables the [highlight text] = [do something annoying] script. If not you may be able to build your own. Let me know if you want my help. This is a pet peeve of mine as well.

Cards are just going back home Tuesday, Cubs are still at home. Maybe they'll just play it tomorrow.

Another day; another homer, double & 2 rbi for Meister Fox...nice outing for Atkins too [finally]

Well, perhaps there will be an in-season trade for a LH relief pitcher to an AL team for Fox?

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.