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 Shake Their Bote to Victory at HoHoKam

David Bote reached base four times on two RBI doubles, a single, and a walk, and Shawon Dunston Jr tripled, singled, scored two runs, and drove-in another, leading the AZL Cubs to a 5-2 victory over the AZL Dodgers in Arizona League action tonight at HoHoKam Park in Mesa.

box score

Cubs 1st round draft pick Albert Almora and Cuban mega-defector Jorge Soler went a combined 1-8, although Almora did collect an RBI on a ground ball single that ticked-off the glove of the shortstop.

Soler struck out twice (once swinging and once looking), and flied out twice.

The Dodgers have a high-profile Cuban defector playing for their AZL team, too, one Yasiel Puig.

Puig played RF tonight and reached base three times (two singles and a walk), but he also dropped a routine fly ball for a two-base error that allowed Almora to reach 2nd base safely in the bottom of the 1st. 

Puig is hitting a rather robust 407/500/1.000 and is already tied for 9th in the AZL in HR (with four), despite having played in only eight games.  

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti was at tonight's game, and so he got a chance to watch his $42M investment up close & personal.

RHP Paul Blackburn (Cubs 2012 Supplemental 1st round pick) got the start for the Cubs and labored through a two-inning 40-pitch outing, allowing two runs (both unearned) on four hits (all four singles) and a walk, with two strikeouts.

The most-impressive performance by a Cub pitcher tonight was the one turned-in by 20-year old RHP Dillon Maples, who (finally) displayed the velocity and command not seen previously, including three outings at AZ Instructs last fall (4.91 ERA, 1.91 WHIP, .231 OppBA, 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP), or over the course of his two previous appearances in the AZL this season (3.38 ERA, 1.88 WHIP, .111 OppBA, 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 HBP, 2 WP).  

But he was much better tonight, throwing two shutout innings (31 pitches - 20 strikes), allowing two singles and a HBP, while striking out three (two swinging). The big difference tonight was that he threw strikes (especially "strike one") and worked fast. 

When he's right, Maples throws a 93 MPH fastball (with movement) and a hard-breaking nearly-unhittable curve, and he displayed both pitches tonight. If he can command his electric stuff (as he did tonight) and maybe develop a change-up, he could be a potential MLB "Top-of-the-Rotation" guy down the road.

Maples was a 14th round draft pick of the Cubs in June 2011 out of Pinecrest HS in Southern Pines, NC (he dropped to the 14th round only because of "signability" concerns), and he was signed by the Cubs right off the campus of the University of North Carolina last August (a top-notch place-kicker, Maples had signed an NLI with UNC to play both baseball and football, and he was attending the Tar Heels pre-season football camp when he made his decision to turn pro and sign with the Cubs).

The ace of the Under-18 Team USA squad while in HS, Maples received a $2.5M signing bonus (equivalent to "1st round money") from the Cubs.   

After being shut-down with a sore arm midway through Instructs last year and not pitching at Minor League Camp or at Extended Spring Training this season while dealing with elbow/forearm issues, Maples finally appears to be moving forward.    

The Defensive Gem of the Game was the very last play of the game.

With the Cubs up 5-2 with one out in the top of the 9th and with Dodger runners at 2nd and 3rd and the tying run at the plate, CF Albert Almora made a brilliant Willie Mays style catch, racing full-speed with his back to the infield and catching a towering fly ball basket-style just as he hit the CF Batter's Eye, before turning around 180 degrees and (without having time to measure the throw) firing a strike to 2nd base that doubled Alex Santana off base for the final out of the game.

A truly amazing play by the Cubs 2012 #1 draft pick.

There also was another roster gaffe by an AZL manager in tonight's game, this time by Cubs manager Bobby Mitchell.

Each AZL team has a 35-man roster, but only 30 players can be designated "active" for each game.

Unfortunately, one of the five AZL Cubs "inactive" guys (RHP Daniel Adrian) was brought into the game in the top of the 3rd, only to be waived off the field by the home plate umpire after he finished his warm-up tosses.  

After a discussion around home plate between the umpires and the two managers, RHP Chad Martin was hurriedly brought into the game.

To his credit, AZL Dodgers manager Matt Martin agreed to let Chad Martin have as much time as he needed to get loose. The rival manager was within his rights to insist that the new pitcher be allowed just the maximum eight warm-up tosses, but I could hear him say that he didn't want anybody to get hurt just because of a technicality.   

Comments

That's pretty cool on Martin's part. Also cool you can sometimes hear what is being said. Are there ever scenes out of Bull Durham where they are talking about anything other than baseball? Although, I believe in the scene I'm thinking of, there was something about a sacrificial chicken or something like that to break out of a slump, and it may be where Nuke Laloosh was told to wear some unique clothing.

Castro has had a dropoff since Rudy Jaramillo was dismissed as the Cubs hitting coach on June 12, the Cubs' web site reports. In 60 games with Jaramillo, Castro hit .308, and in the 48 games since, he's hitting .226.

... a small market team, without people going all TRN on each other, mostly. I myself would like to see a bit of a mix of FAs and young talent but I'm sort of at a loss at WHICH FAs on a team that is rebuilding. Current contracts are insane and long. You don't want to block a guy who is coming up fast through the system with some failed free agent. The strategy of developing first from the ground up and filling a hole or two after it's been figured which prospects will become impact players makes sense. If TheoCorp is gonna do this, though, I sure as hell hope this is the beginning of a 20 year run of playoff caliber teams.

The Cubs have to reinstate Lendy Castillo from the DL no later than this Monday (8/13) for Castillo to fulfill Rule 5 requirements this year. If he is not activated by this coming Monday, he will remain a Rule 5 player into the 2013 season, until he has accrued 90 days (combined 2012-13) on an MLB Active List. Castillo has now spent 29 days on his minor league rehab assignment (pitchers get a maximum 30 days to rehab, position players get only 20), and he last pitched this past Monday for AA Tennessee (he began his rehab at AZL Cubs, then was moved up to Daytona, and then to Tennessee). Castillo has been stretched-out to where he can be used in long relief (three or four innings if necessary) once he is reinstated, but when he has thrown in a minor league rehab, it's been with at least three days off in-between outings. So he hasn't been prepped to pitch multiple days in a row, or even every-other day.

Another DSL Cub gets hammered with a 50-game PED suspension. This time it's 19-year old Dominican LHP Andin Diaz He will miss the final 16 games of this season and the first 34 games of the 2013 DSL Cubs #1 season (presuming the Cubs opt to put him back on the active list when his suspension ends). Diaz is the third DSL Cub to get a PED suspension this season.

via rotowurld, via the trib...re: garza "I fought so long with them, 'I'll be able to come back, I'll be able to come back,'" said Garza, who was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his elbow this week. "They just said they've had enough and let's see what else is in there. It's nothing bad. Doc just said a little rest and let's get it over with." While Garza is optimistic about playing again this season, it will be tough to map out a timetable for his return until he begins a throwing program. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-garza-determined-to-r…

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    yeah, for me this isn't about who's better at 3rd.  it's madrigal, period.  for me it's about who's not hitting in the lineup because madrigal is in the lineup.

    occasional play at 3rd for madrigal, okay.  going with the steele/ground-ball matchup...meh, but okay, whatever.

    seeing madrigal get significant starting time...no thanks.

  • Dolorous Jon Lester (view)

    Yeah I am very disappointed Madrigal is starting. He has no business as a starter. He is AAA insurance, a back up at best. Sure his defense looks fine because he plays far enough in that his noodle arm isn’t totally exposed. It comes at the cost of 3B range.

    He’s garbage, and a team serious about winning would NOT have him starting opening day.

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • crunch (view)

    madrigal at 3rd...morel at DH.

    making room for madrigal or/and masterboney to get a significant amount of ABs is a misuse of the roster.  if it needed to get taken care of this offseason, they had tons of time to figure that out.

    morel played almost exclusively at 3rd in winter ball and they had him almost exclusively there all spring when he wasn't DH'ing.

    madrigal doing a good job with the glove for a bit over 2 chances per game...is that worth more than what he brings with the bat 4-5 PA a game?  it's 2024 and we got glenn beckert 2.0 manning 3rd base.

    this is a tauchman or cooper DH situation based on bat, alone.  cooper is 3/7 with a double off eovaldi if you want to play the most successful matchup.

    anyway, i hope this is a temporary thing, not business as usual for the rest of the season.  it will be telling if morel is not used at 3rd when an extreme fly ball pitcher like imanaga is on the mound.

  • 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.