2011 Cubs Minor League Camp Roster Projections
The Cubs Minor League Camp officially opens at Fitch Park next Monday, although some of the minor league players have arrived early and are working-out under the supervision of the Cubs minor league managers and coaches who are not assigned as Spring Training Instructors with the MLB club.
The minor leaguers will initially be divided into four squads, Iowa (AAA), Tennessee (AA), Daytona (Hi-A), and Peoria (A), with a 5th squad (known at Minor League Camp as “Boise/Mesa”) forming in mid-March. The older and more-experienced players are usually assigned to the Iowa and Tennessee squads, even if it's fairly obvious that the player probably lacks the talent to remain at that level once the regular season begins.
The Boise/Mesa squad forms when the Cubs begin to send players from HoHoKam Park to Minor League Camp. Once this happens, there is a cascade of player movement downward as the Cubs send players to Minor League Camp, and player movement downward from the “big club” means that some of the players who were initially assigned to the Iowa squad will either get released or will be moved one level down to Tennessee, and that will cause some of the players who were initially assigned to the Tennessee squad to either get released or be moved down to the Daytona squad, and that will result in some of the players who were initially assigned to the Daytona squad either getting released or getting moved down to the Peoria squad, and then some of the players who were initially assigned to the Peoria squad will either get released or will be assigned to the Boise/Mesa squad, and it is the Boise/Mesa squad at Minor League Camp that eventually will become the Cubs Extended Spring Training squad at Fitch Park in April-May-June.
In addition, 70 Latin American minor leaguers are assigned to the Cubs Dominican Academy for Spring Training, and this group will eventually be split into two 35-man squads. These two squads (DSL Cubs #1 and DSL Cubs #2) will eventually become the Cubs teams that play in the Dominican Summer League. A few of the more-promising and most-ready DSL players will be brought up to Fitch Park at the end of Spring Training and will get assigned to the Cubs Extended Spring Training squad and (eventually) either the AZL Cubs or Boise.
Many of the Cubs minor league players are initially assigned one or sometimes two levels higher than where they are expected to eventually end up, but every now & then a player who was placed at a higher level than where he was expected to start the season has such a great Minor League Camp that he stays where he was initially assigned. The most famous example of that happening in recent years was in 2009, when 18-year old Starlin Castro was assigned to Daytona at the beginning of Minor League Camp, with the hope that he might eventually be able to break camp with the Peoria Chiefs club, but he was so impressive that he just stayed with Daytona and never looked back. But for this to happen, there has to be a clear path ahead at the player’s position, where he is not impeded (blocked) by another more-advanced or more highly-regarded prospect.
So here are the projected initial Cubs Minor League Camp rosters (155 players as things stand now), as well as the Cubs Dominican Academy roster (70 players), plus some other stuff. Again, keep in mind that these are just my projections, and as the Cubs send players down to Minor League Camp, the Minor League Camp rosters will change quite a bit.
* bats or throws left
# bats both
IOWA (38)
PITCHERS (21):
* Jeffrey Beliveau
Austin Bibens-Dirkx
* Ryan Buchter
David Cales
Marco Carrillo
Hung-Wen Chen
Ty’Relle Harris
Alessandro Maestri
Oswaldo Martinez
* J. R. Mathes
A. J. Morris
Craig Muschko
Jake Muyco
Mike Parisi
Blake Parker
* Brooks Raley
* Chris Rusin
Aaron Shafer
* Chris Siegfried
* Luke Sommer
* Polin Trinidad
CATCHERS (3):
Michael Brenly
* Blake Lalli
Jonathan Mota
INFIELDERS (8):
* Ryan Flaherty
# Marwin Gonzalez
D. J. Lemahieu
# David Macias
* Jake Opitz
Nate Samson
* Matt Spencer
* John Urick
OUTFIELDERS (6):
Smaily Borges
* Michael Burgess
* Kyler Burke
* Tony Campana
Evan Crawford
Ty Wright
TENNESSEE (39)
PITCHERS (22)
* Jeffry Antigua
Justin Bristow (2010 non-TJS elbow surgery rehab)
Manolin DeLeon
Yohan Gonzalez
Steve Grife
Marcus Hatley
Dylan Johnston
Su-Min Jung
Danny Keefe
Jordan Latham
* James Leverton
Robinson Lopez
* Jeff Lorick
Corey Martin
Jon Nagel (post-2010 non-TJS elbow surgery rehab)
Mike Perconte
Dae-Eun Rhee
Ryan Searle
Nick Struck
Larry Suarez
Brett Wallach
Robert Whitenack
CATCHERS (3):
Luis Flores
# Micah Gibbs
Jose Guevara
INFIELDERS (7):
* T. J. Baxter
* Justin Bour
* Matt Cerda
Junior Lake
Rebel Ridling
Greg Rohan
* Logan Watkins
OUTFIELDERS (7)
D. J. Fitzgerald
* Francisco Guzman
Jae-Hoon Ha
* Nelson Perez
* Alvaro Ramirez
Matt Szczur
# Jose Valdez
DAYTONA (39)
PITCHERS (22):
Frank Batista
Dallas Beeler
* Brent Ebinger
Eduardo Figueroa
* Cam Greathouse
* Casey Harman
* Graham Hicks
* Eric Jokisch
* Austin Kirk
Aaron Kurcz
Luis Liria
Matt Loosen
* John Mincone (post-2010 knee surgery rehab)
Tarlandus Mitchell
* Marcos Perez
Kevin Rhoderick
Carlos Rojas
* Zac Rosscup
Juan Yasser Serrano
Hayden Simpson
Alvaro Sosa (ex-C)
Joe Zeller
CATCHERS (3):
Yaniel Cabeza
Max Kwan
Chad Noble
INFIELDERS (8):
# Arismendy Alcantara
* Ryan Cuneo
Dustin Harrington
* Richard Jones
Pierre LePage
Brandon May
Jake McAloose
Elliot Soto
OUTFIELDERS (6):
Anthony Giansanti
Chris Huseby (ex-RHP)
Jesus Morelli
* Kyung-Min Na
Cody Shields
* Rubi Silva
PEORIA (38)
PITCHERS (21):
* Hunter Ackerman
Dustin Fitzgerald
* Cody Hams
Ryan Hartman
Alvido Jimenez
Jin-Young Kim
Hector Mayora
Amaury Paulina
Starling Peralta
Austin Reed
Eric Rice
Colin Richardson
Jhon Rodriguez
Melvin Rosa (2010 TJS rehab)
Jose Rosario
Bryce Shafer
* Brian Smith
Charles Thomas (ex-3B)
Tzu-An Wang
Yao-Lin Wang
Ben Wells
CATCHERS (3):
* Sergio Burruel
Carlos Romero
# Engel Santana
INFIELDERS (7):
Gioskar Amaya
# Vismeldy Bieneme
* Pin-Chieh Chen
Wilson Contreras
* Wes Darvill
Dustin Geiger
# Marco Hernandez
OUTFIELDERS (7):
* Delbis Arcila
Xavier Batista
Reggie Golden
Dong-Yub Kim (2010 shoulder surgery rehab)
Manuel Pestana (2010 shoulder surgery rehab)
Blair Springfield
# Oliver Zapata
BOISE/MESA (EXTENDED SPRING TRAINING)
TBD
DOMINICAN ACADEMY (70)
PITCHERS (39):
Gilberto Abreu
Jose Arias
* Adrian Aviles
Jane Bremon
Enger Cabreja
Javier Castro
* Augusto Colina
Willengton Cruz
* Alberto Diaz
Rafael Diplan
Antonio Encarnacion
* Carlos Galvez
Ramon Garcia
* Victor Garcia
Enyel Gonzalez
* Richard Leyba
Eric Martinez
Pedro Medina
* Jose Martinez
* Angel Mejias
Yomar Morel
Loiger Padron
Enyelberth Pena
Felix Pena
Roderik Pichardo
Amalio Reyes
Ramon Reyes
Santo Rodriguez
Victor Salazar
Julio Sanchez
Yilver Sanchez
Jean Sandoval
Alexander Santana
Deuris Severino
Wladimir Telles
Jose Tineo
Daury Torrez
Francisco Turbi
* Luis Villalba
CATCHERS (8):
# Erick Castillo
Johan Dejesus
Miguel Gonzalez
# Brian Inoa
Alex Pena
Felix Perez
# Wilfredo Petit
# Hector Suarez
INFIELDERS (12):
Joel Altagracia
# Jeimer Candelario
# Rafael Disla
# Antonio Gonzalez
Gregori Gonzalez
* Gabriel Jimenez
Carlos Montero
# Jose Montecino
Carlos Penalver
* Jefry Puente
# Jesus Rodriguez
Danny Sanchez
OUTFIELDERS (11):
Jeffrey Baez
* Manuel Barrios
* Franmi Cabrera
Jose Casilla
# Kelvin Encarnacion
Darlyn Figueroa
* Eduardo Gonzalez
Jasly Gonzalez
Enderson Mercedes
# Gregorio Robles
Rander Valdez
MLB EUROPEAN ACADEMY (1)
* Alberto Mineo, C (will probably attend AZ Instructs post-2011)
CUBS MINOR LEAGUERS DEPARTED LAST 12 MONTHS
TRADED:
Chris Archer, RHP (to TB)
Robinson Chirinos, C-INF (to TB)
Brandon Guyer, OF (to TB)
Hak-Ju Lee, SS (to TB)
Tony Thomas, 2B (to BOS)
RELEASED:
Yohan Astacio, 1B
Robert Bautista, INF
Todd Blackford, RHP
Melvin Camarena, OF-1B
Rogelio Carmona, RHP
Julio Castillo, RHP
Darlin Castro, RHP
Doug Cherry, 2B
Tim Clubb, RHP (see NOTE)
John Contreras, C-1B
Miguel Corletto, RHP
Alejandro Damian, OF
Runey Davis, OF
Diego Encarnacion, RHP
Denis Estrada, LHP
Carlos Figueroa, INF
Yonan Fuenmayor, C
Jesse Ginley, RHP
Guido Gomez, LHP
Gian Guzman, RHP
Derek Helenihi, 3B
Carlos Henry, SS
Albert Hernandez, OF
Robert Hernandez, RHP
Jason James, OF (see NOTE)
Dwayne Kemp, 2B (see NOTE)
Jeff Kennard, RHP (see NOTE)
Kevin Kreier, RHP (see NOTE)
Joel Lanfranco, RHP
Josh Lansford, RHP (signed with OAK)
Yamel Liria, C
Antoni Lugo, 3B
Garrett Maines, C (signed with TOR)
Toby Matchulat, RHP
Matt Matulia, INF
Dan McDaniel, RHP (signed with OAK)
Roneidy Mejia, RHP
Jadel Mendez, RHP
Kevin Millar, 1B (see NOTE)
Arismendy Mota, RHP
Dionis Nunez, RHP
Jeremy Papelbon, LHP
Ricardo Parra, C
David Patton, RHP
Juan Pena, 1B-3B
Julio Pena, RHP
Junior Pena, RHP
Melido Perez, 3B
Vince Perkins, RHP (see NOTE)
Jordan Petraitis, INF
Francoris Pineda, RHP
Andres Quezada, RHP
Gregory Reinhard, RHP (see NOTE)
Albert Robles, RHP
Jovan Rosa, 1B-C (see NOTE)
Braulio Rosario, RHP
Abner Ruiz, LHP
Drew Rundle, LHP (signed with PHI as OF)
Dustin Sasser, LHP
Jacob Schmidt, RHP (see NOTE)
Kevin Soto, OF
Adam Spencer, RHP
Bobby Wagner, 1B-OF (see NOTE)
Ryne White, 1B (signed with PHI)
Josh Whitlock, RHP (see NOTE)
Sean Williams, OF
Hank Williamson, RHP
NOTE: Clubb, James, Kennard, Kreier, Millar, Perkins, Reinhard, J. Rosa, Schmidt, Wagner, and Whitlock played independent minor league ball and Kemp played pro ball in The Netherlands after getting released by Cubs.
VOLUNTARY RETIRED
Jeff Vigurs, C (will be Grad Assistant Baseball Coach at Northeastern U.)
DECEMBER 2010 RULE 5 DRAFT
Casey Lambert, LHP (selected by BAL in AAA Phase)
Ronny Morla, RHP (selected by NYM in AAA Phase)
RULE 55 MINOR LEAGUE FREE-AGENT POST-2010:
Mitch Atkins, RHP (signed with BAL)
Russ Canzler, 1B-OF (signed with TB)
Jason Dubois (will be hitting coach at AZL Cubs)
Jeff Gray, RHP (signed with CHW)
Mark Johnson, C (will be manager at Boise)
Scott McClain, 3B (will be U. S. Scout for Hiroshima Carp)
Mario Mercedes, C
Mark Reed, C
Comments