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

Wang Answers the Bell

Yao-Lin Wang threw three innings of one-hit shutout ball with five strikeouts and Dong-Yub Kim capped a three-run third inning with a bases loaded two-out two-run single, but the A’s rallied to tie the game thanks to some shaky Cub defense, as the EXST Cubs and EXST A’s played to a 3-3 tie in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action at Fitch Park Field #3 in Mesa this afternoon

The stocky 20-year old Wang got the start for the Cubs, striking out one batter in the 1st inning and two each in the 2nd and 3rd. He did allow one walk and one single, but one base-runner was erased on a 6-4-3 DP, and the other never made it past 1st base. Wang is a native of Taiwan and was a member of the Taiwan Junior National Team prior to signing with the Cubs for a reported $260K bonus in June 2009.

The Cubs scored all of their runs in the bottom of the 3rd to take a 3-0 lead. Blair Springfield and Wes Darvill opened the inning with singles to put runners on 1st & 3rd, and then Dustin Geiger lofted a sacrifice fly to RF to score Springfield. After Pin Chieh Chen reached base on an error and Wilson Conteras was hit on the knee by a pitch, Dong-Yub Kim came through with his two-out two-run single to CF to score Darvill and Chen.

DY Kim is one of several players signed by the Cubs out of South Korea in the last few years, receiving a reported $550K bonus in February 2009. He made his U. S. debut at AZ Instructs in September 2009 and showed some indication that he could be a five-tool player, but his career was sidetracked at Minor League Camp 2010 when he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery. He has yet to play any RF in 2011, and his throws from LF are somewhat weak. He was tried at 1B occasionally in Minor League Camp but struggled there, so now he is most-often used as a DH, although he also does play LF.

Daytona Cubs catcher Luis Flores is now on an Active Rehab Assignment with the EXST Cubs, after suffering a concussion in Minor League Camp. Flores started behind the plate today and played five innings, getting two AB (5-3 and F-9).

Also, Iowa Cubs OF Brad Snyder (strained oblique) has completed his Rehab Assignment with the EXST Cubs and has rejoined the I-Cubs, and RHP Ty’Relle Harris completed his Arm Strengthening Program at Extended Spring Training and was moved up to AA Tennessee.

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

LINEUP:
1a. Pin-Chieh Chen, 2B: 1-3 (F-7, E-1, 2B, R, CS)
1b. Vismeldy Bieneme, 2B: 0-1 (F-9)
2. Oliver Zapata, CF: 0-4 (K, F-9, 3-1, 4-6-3 DP)
3a. Wilson Contreras, 3B: 1-2 (1B, HBP, 5-3)
3b. Gregori Gonzalez, 3B: 0-1 (K)
4. Dong-Yub Kim, DH #1: 1-4 (6-4 FC, 1B, 5-3, 6-3, 2 RBI)
5a. Luis Flores, C: 0-2 (5-3, F-9)
5b. Yaniel Cabezas, C: 0-2 (6-3, P-3)
6a. Reggie Golden, RF: 0-2 (5-3, BB, F-7, PO)
6b. Jesus Morelli, RF: NO AB
7. Xavier Batista, DH #2: 1-3 (K, 5-3, 2B)
8a. Blair Springfield, LF: 1-3 (1B, F-7, 5-3, R)
8b. Eduardo Gonzalez, LF: NO AB
9. Wes Darvill, SS: 2-3, (1B, 6-3, 1B, R)
10. Dustin Geiger, 1B: 1-2 (F-9 SF, K, 1B, RBI)

PITCHERS:
1. Yao-Lin Wang: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 GIDP, 42 pitches (28 strikes), 3/1 GO/FO
2. Ben Wells: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, 28 pitches (22 strikes), 3/0 GO/FO
3. Ryan Hartman: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 30 pitches (19 strikes), 2/4 GO/FO
4. Dustin Fitzgerald: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 40 pitches (23 strikes), 2/3 GO/FO

ERRORS: 2
1. 2B Pin-Chieh Chen E4 – fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely and runner to score unearned run
2. 2B Pin-Chieh Chen E4 – fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely and runner to score unearned run
NOTE: The two errors occurred on consecutive plays with two outs in the top of the 4th inning

ATTENDANCE: 9

WEATHER: Sunny & breezy with temperatures in the 80’s

 

Comments

#Cubs haven't decided on 5th starter for Tues. vs #Padres - Russell/Samardzija a possibility, along with Ortiz or Coello getting a call-up. from Patrick Mooney of CSN

Strikeouts are fun...

Baseball America has Brett Jackson on this weeks Prospect Hot Sheet http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2011/… Team: Double-A Tennessee (Southern) Age: 22 Why He's Here: .480/.563/.720 (12-for-25), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, 6 BB, 6 SO, 4-for-5 SB The Scoop: Jackson's well-rounded skill set helps him do a bit of everything. The Cubs' No. 1 prospect has a solid swing, works the count and can drive the ball, while his plus speed is a weapon on the basepaths and in the outfield. He's been an on-base machine early for Tennessee, including a 3-for-3 showing with a walk to help chase Rays lefty Matt Moore from the game early on Wednesday. Baseball America Prospect chat: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/prospect-hot-sheet/2011/… Lorne (Toronto): Biggest suprise (Good and Bad) you've noticed this season, even though its still very early. Ben Badler: Starting with the bad, it would have to be Wimmers. Hopefully he can put things together, because everything we've heard from his first start was that he was all over the place, with more pitches going to the backstop than landing for strikes. JOSH VITTERS' start has been a pleasant surprise, and he's done it against some good arms. Joe Savery who we hit on in Blast From The Past this week, certainly wasn't a guy anyone here was expecting to be leading the minors in hitting right now. On the mound, I think Trevor Rosenthal with the Cardinals is opening some eyes with his fastball in Low-A and Keyvius Sampson is starting to show why the Padres liked him so much a couple years ago as well. And for crunch: eastin (Louisiana): Is Goldschmidt for real? He's killed the ball throughout his minor league career and had a very nice(though small sample size) spring training this year. Ben Badler: I saw him his first series at Carolina when he was on that tear, and there's some thing to like, but he's still going to have to shake the "mistake hitter" tag from scouts. He sets up wide, stays back well and he can drive the ball to all fields. No questions about the power. He struggled some though when pitchers elevated stuff up on him and they got him to chase some offspeed stuff out of the zone, so I think he's still going to have to prove he can make more contact against advanced pitchers. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B Diamondbacks Team: Double-A Mobile (Southern) Age: 23 Why He's Here: .381/.536/1.143 (8-for-21) 5 HR, 1 2B, 10 RBIs, 6 R, 7 BB, 4 SO The Scoop: In a September Prospect Hot Sheet last year we wrote that "Double-A will be the true test to see if Goldschmidt can sink or swim against advanced pitching in a more neutral environment." The early results are in, and they sure look good. Goldschmidt belted two home runs on Opening Day, then added two more in the opening series at Carolina before hitting his fifth of the year yesterday off Braves lefty Brett Oberholtzer to push his way into a tie for the minor league lead in home runs. Carolina pitchers seemed to want little to do with Goldschmidt, pitching around him and putting him on base via the walk rather than allow him to inflict more pain with the bat with his power to all fields. "He's just got a combination of strength and bat speed and being able to use his lower half, that's what I see with him," Mobile manager Turner Ward said. "Any guy who's got good power potential, they really use their lower half, and that's what he does—he really uses his lower half to get himself through the ball."

Az. Phil, how does Angel Guzman look? Is there any chance that he can make it back this season? Thanks.

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In reply to by Hagsag

Submitted by Hagsag on Sat, 04/16/2011 - 5:05am. Az. Phil, how does Angel Guzman look? Is there any chance that he can make it back this season? Thanks =========================================== HAGSAG: Right now Angel Guzman is throwing one inning (20 pitches) in a "sim game" at Fitch Park (where pitch counts can be controlled to an exact number) every 5th day, and he has his fastball velocity up to 92 MPH. Once he begins to throw more often and starts to mix in his breaking ball he could move up in a hurry. It's just a question of when that will be. So far he has had no medical setbacks. I would bet that Gooz will be pitching in Chicago by September (at the latest).

Three Cubs minor league pitchers released during Minor League Camp have found homes in Independent baseball leagues. RHP Steve Grife signed with Washington (PA) in the Frontier League, RHP Alessandro Maestri signed with Lincoln (NE) of the American Association, and LHP Scott Rice signed with York (PA) in the Atlantic League. A Rule 55 minor league free-agent (6YFA) post-2010, Rice was signed by the Cubs after spending 12 seasons in the minors, and he even got an NRI to Spring Training with the big club. He was released by the Cubs soon after he was assigned to Minor League Camp. Despite having been releaed by the Cubs and never pitching above AA, Alessandro Maestri probably has a very good chance to be a starting pitcher (perhaps even the #1 starter) with Team Italy in next year's World Baseball Classic, and getting regular work in indy ball will help him keep in pitching shape and stay visible. Maestri was a member of Team Italy in both 2006 and 2009, but he has a lot more experience now than he did then. A 26th round Cubs draft pick in 2009, Grife was released by the Cubs despite having a decent year working out of the Peoria bullpen in 2010. But 24-year old RH middle relievers have to keep moving upward or they disappear, and that's what happened with Grife. He was caught in a numbers game at Daytona and the Cubs apparently felt he was too old to repeat Peoria again, where he would have blocked younger arms with more upside.

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.