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

Saturday funnies: an animated study of Junior Lake's swing.

Man.
Junior Lake swings hard.

Comments

It's kind of like the old saw (no reference to the movie intended) where they try to make a pitcher out of a hard thrower. Can that be done with a hard swing? Can you teach a guy to be a "hitter"?

Justin Bour can't match Baez's 18 HR in 51 games at Tennessee, but he does have 18 HR in 80 games. Last year Bour hit 17 in 138, also at Tennessee.

Boise lost to Salem-Kaizer last night, while Hillsboro lost to . . . somebody. Second-half standings show S-K in first place by a game over Boise and Hillsboro. Boise actually has two paths to the playoffs: win 2 of 3 vs. Hillsboro starting tonight; or watch S-K finish ahead of Hillsboro, which would trigger this Boise-favoring playoff procedure: "If one team wins both the first and second half of the season, then the team with the next best winning percentage for the entire season will get into the playoffs."

Advance Scouting Report Starlin Castro, SS, Cubs (2013 edition) Analysis: Don't throw it in the zone, stupid.

TIL - JD loves to randomly throw baseball cards out of the booth for the hell of it while calling the game and pre-game. it seems he enjoys seeing how far he can make them fly rather than trying to throw cards at specific people.

1st castro HR in a month...d.barney actually has a good day at the plate...k.gregg doesn't blow a 1-run save...and the cubs win. woo.

Javier Baez 1st inning 2 run HR, he's 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 rbi. Smokies ahead of the Lookouts 4-1 in the 5th. HR #19 for Tenn. Struck pitching, only hit is a solo HR by Joc Pederson in the 1st.

per Rotoworld...
Orioles recalled C Steve Clevenger from Triple-A Norfolk. The 27-year-old backstop was acquired from the Cubs in early July as part of the Scott Feldman trade. He has been stinging the ball in 20 games at the Triple-A level with the O’s, hitting .324/.402/.437 with two homers and 11 RBI. He’ll provide catching depth for the O’s, and could also see the occasional start at first base.

Boise Hawks were no hit last night by Kyle Schepel, losing 5-0. They only had one walk and another got on by an error. (Schepel...Pitched a seven-inning no-hitter for Class A South Bend in the first game of a doubleheader on April 14, 2013 at Lansing. ... Signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a Minor League free agent on Sept. 23, 2012)

There should be some 40 man roster moves today. If Sweeney comes up (60 day DL), will McDonald or Gillespie be gone? If they want a look at Olt, Cody Ransom is gone. To get another look at Schlitter or a look at Grimm or Rosscup might mean a mysterious injury to Rondon. Stuff like that.

[ ]

In reply to by Charlie

CHARLIE: Hector Rondon has to spend the entire 2013 MLB regular season on the Cubs MLB Active List (25-man roster) and/or MLB DL(s) with at least 90 days spent on the Active List before Rule 5 restrictions are removed. (If a player does not spent 90 days on an MLB Active List during the season after being selected in the Rule 5 Draft, he remains a Rule 5 player going into the next season, but only until he has accrued the required 90 days on an MLB Active List). 

However, because Rondon has been outrighted previously in his career (when he was with Cleveland), he can elect free-agency if he is outrighted.

BTW, Rondon will qualify for a 4th minor league option in 2014 (presuming he is still on the 40-man roster).

Red Sox just DFA's Daniel Bard. Something tells me Theo's antennae are twitching Theo will be on WSCR's Hit and Run end of season show at 11am cst

[ ]

In reply to by Cubster

bard hasn't been the same since he lost 3-4mph off his fastball last year...and lost control of what he's throwing. one of those odd cases where taking 3-4mph off his fastball (not by choice) caused him to be even more wild than when he was throwing hard.

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • crunch (view)

    dbacks are signing j.montgomery to a 1/25m with a vesting 20m player option.

    i dunno when the ink officially dries, but i believe if he signs once the season begins he can't be offered a QO...and i'm not sure if that thing with SD/LAD in korea was the season beginning, either.

  • crunch (view)

    sut says imanaga getting the home opener at wrigley (game 4 of the season).

  • crunch (view)

    cubs rolling out the who's who of "who the hell is this guy?" in the last spring game.