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

"Geo Tagging" with Geovany Soto

 

For you and me, "geo tagging" means putting geographical information on things like a video or a photo, so when people see it online they know where it was taken.
But for Geovany Soto, "Geo Tagging" has nothing to do with a camera or a computer, and it doesn't happen in the digital world.
Because when Geo tags something, it'll feel some pain even if it's a baseball.

In Sunday's loss to the Pirates, I bet Jason Jaramillo won't ever forget getting Geo Tagged in the chin when he tried to score from third in front of Tyler Colvin's astonishing one-hop toss from right.

And yesterday when the Cubs needed a little insurance, Kam Mickolio watched one of his pitches get Geo Tagged into the left field wall at Wrigley Field for a nice little insurance run as the Cubs went on to beat the Dbacks 4-1.

That hit from Geo yesterday, plus Alfonso Soriano's homer earlier and the ones from these first 4 games - this team isn't great by a long stretch but it feels like I've already seen more clutch hitting than they managed all of last June.
Even with the pain of Sunday's loss, the games have been pretty fun to watch, and the guys are all... likable I guess is the word.

Like Geo. 
The sophomore slump and pot things are way in the past, he got his arm fixed, he looks comfortable.
I never really believed the rookie season All-Star Geo - I thought he was lucky to be the guy on that team in that year with the not so stellar competition around the NL.
But this season, I'm looking forward to lots of Geo Tags.

And today marks the first Major League start for young Andrew Cashner.
Remember, he's just a kid, he's nervous, and his mother probably thinks he needs a haircut.
So cut him some slack and try to enjoy another one of the talented Cubs kids trying to make it in The Bigs. 

Comments

I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict two hits from Castro today, and one misadventure from him in the infield. Because I'm nothing if not gutsy in my predictions. I haven't had a chance to see much yet but it does seem like there's a little more spring in their steps. Must be that 24 hour batting order.

Funny bit on Cubs pre-game on Comcast... Reporters gathered around Carlos Pena in locker room, getting updates on his thumb, he said he could play in an emergency today but they are just being cautious and hoping a little rest will heal it quickly. Then a reporter asked Pena, "You're not worried about Colvin going 4 for 4 and you being Wally Pipp'ed today?" and Pena replied, "I hope that happens...(Laughter)... Not the Wally Pipp part, but Colvin going 4 for 4."

The more Samardjia implodes, the more liklihood that Hendry will dump him. A failed conversion. So, a silver lining there. I have been saying the guy is a bust for two years now. Prove me wrong, Wide-Out! This would have been a perfect spot for Wellemeyer. Sigh...

[ ]

In reply to by Jace

It's something called a Nasty Factor. For real. What is the Nasty Factor? The Nasty Factor evaluates several properties of each pitch, and rates the “nastiness” of the pitch on a scale from 0-100, based in part on the success or failure of opposing hitters against previous similar pitches. The Nasty Factor incorporates several different factors for each pitch, including: Velocity — The greater the pitch’s velocity — as compared to that pitcher’s and the league’s range of speed for that pitch type — the greater the nastiness; Sequence — The more the pitcher mixes up his pitches, the greater the nastiness… and certain pitch sequences are nastier than others, too; Location — The closer to the edges of the strike zone is, the greater the nastiness, while pitches closer to the middle of the plate, and farther away outside the strike zone, decrease in nastiness; Movement — The more movement the pitcher applies to the pitch — as compared to that pitcher’s and the league’s range of movement for that pitch type — the greater the nastiness. The Nasty Factor also adjusts for how often the pitcher has faced the current batter during the game, as well as how often he has used the same pitch type against the same batter in the current at-bat and previously in the game. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:PvQMb74x0HIJ:www.i…

chris rose and kevin millar are horrible on MLB's "Intentional Talk"...they should "Best Damn Sports Show" the whole thing and add a couple more guys to eat mic time and play banter off each other.

[ ]

In reply to by The Real Neal

Neal.....he was in the battle for 5th starter in ST. HE was a starter at AAA last year...He pitched reasonably well in 5 of 8 starts last season. Carlos Silva isn't here. Coleman is the best available option to step into the rotation until Cashner returns. I'm not thrilled...or naming Coleman ROY. I'm saying, at least he's been starting pitcher in AA and AAA, with some success at each level, and with a few good starts last season in the bigs. If some mystery option is available...I'm all ears.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

My point is that Siva is, always was and probably for the next five years always wil be a better option that Coleman, and he cost less money, so he should be on the team. End of story. I'd actually prefer Diamond over Coleman, but it looks like we're going to get both. If you are trading away prospects for 3rd starters, your sixth starter should not be a guy who can't strike out 5 PCL hitters over the course of 9 innings. Going into the off-season the Cubs had Carpenter, and Silva, who both should be ahead of this loser, and now they're all options who are off the table. Why? Who knows. I realize that Coleman is the 6th starter, what I am pointing out is that is a woeful posisiton for any organziation to unecessarily be in. He deserves to be a starter a little less than Samardijza should have been the closer in '09.

[ ]

In reply to by Dusty Baylor

I don't know which Silva shows up, but he, unlike Coleman wasn't doing it with smoke and mirrors last year. Last March Silva gave up 3 HR's against 2 BB's in 16.1 innings. This March he gave up 4 HR's and 2 BB's in 17.1 innings. Now all of the sudden he's useless. It's just a continuation of the Cubs not understanding how not to make decisions based on small sample sizes (like Wells and his three bad innings last year). "How did Silva cost less money than Coleman?" Unless I am mistaken, Coleman doesn't get the MLB minimum unless he gets called up, whereas Silva was getting his guaranteed money regardless, so by releasing Silva the Cubs also wind up increasing their payroll by about $330K (minus whatever Silva DL time works out to).

Welington Castillo has been assigned to Daytona where he can DH on a regular basis until the physical problem that is keeping him from catching (reported during Spring Training to be a thumb injury) is resolved. The Cubs did the same thing with Tyler Colvin a couple of years ago when he was rehabing from TJS, since Daytona and Peoria are the only full-season Cubs minor league affiliates that use a DH every game. (Iowa and Tennessee only use the DH when they play a road game at an A. L. affiliate). I did see W. Castillo DH for Daytona vs Inland Empire on Sunday at Fitch Park, so apparently it wasn't just for that day.

wow...attendance is getting 1980s-level pretty early on in 2011. from some of today's games. bos@cle - 9,025 was@fla - 10,482 hou@cin - 11,821 cws@kc - 12,641 laa@tb - 13,173 arz@chc was 27,039...looked like less actually showed up, though.

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...