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

Paniagua Walk-Off HR Lifts AZL Cubs

Jose Paniagua belted a walk-off solo home run with one out in the bottom of the 9th, as the AZL Cubs scored two runs in the 6th, one in the 7th, one in the 8th, and one in the 9th to overcome a four-run deficit and edge the AZL Mariners 9-8 in Arizona League action last night at Sloan Park in Mesa, AZ. 

Paniagua's blast led to a wild celebration by Cubs players, who mobbed Paniagua as he arrived at home plate. There were about seven people in the Cubs Spring Training stadium at the time, so it was kind of like a riot in a public library. 

Jose Leal drove-in five runs with an RBI single, a bases-loaded triple, and a solo HR and Austin Cousino ripped three singles and scored twice for the Mariners in a losing cause. 

18-year old SS Andruw Monasterio knocked-in three runs for the Cubs with two run scoring singles, and made a spectacular run-saving leaping catch with one out in the top of the 9th. He spent the rest of the inning "wind-milling" his left arm between pitches, so he may have strained something in his left shoulder while making the catch. Monasterio was formerly a switch-hitter, but now hits only RH. He slapped at the ball when he hit LH, but he drives the ball with authority RH. It was just a matter of getting used to htting RH versus RHP, and he has accomplished that. 

Cubs SP RHP Enrique de los Rios had a poor outing, allowing four runs on five hits and an HBP and two WP through the first two innings. The 20-year old lanky Venezuelan allowed four more hits over his final two innings, but did not allow any more runs thanks in part to a timely inning-ending 4-3 DP turned by slick-fielding second-baseman Carlos Sepulveda in the top of the 4th. 

RHRP John Michael Knighton (Cubs 2014 17th round draft pick - Central Alabama CC) followed de los Rios to the mound and was also hit hard, allowing four runs on five hits (including the Leal HR in the 5th and bases-loaded triple in the 6th). Knighton (known as "Bama" by his teammates) features a "natural cutter," and he displayed the best control (highest percentage of strikes thrown) of any of the Cubs pitchers who were at Extended Spring Training, but sometimes he throws too many strikes;   

Here is the abridged box score (Cubs players only): 

AZL CUBS LINEUP
1. Robert Garcia, RF: 2-5 (6-3, 1B, 3B, 4-3, 1-3, 2 R)
2. Carlos Sepulveda, 2B: 0-3 (F-7, F-8 SF, E-4, BB, 4-3, R, 2 RBI, SB)
3a. Wldimir Galindo, 1B: 0-2 (K, 2-3) 
3b. Jose Paniagua, 1B: 1-3 (5-3, K, HR, R, RBI)
4. Alex Bautista, LF: 0-4 (F-7, E-6, K, P-5)
5. Joey Martarano, DH: 0-2 (P-6, 3-U, HBP, BB, R)
6. Jhonny Pereda, C: 0-2 (BB, 5-3, HBP, 5-3, 2 R)
7. Roberto Caro, CF: 0-2 (BB, K, K, BB, 2 R)
8. Carlos Jimenez, 3B: 1-2 (BB, 5-3, 1B, 1-3 SH, RBI)
9. Andruw Monasterio, SS: 2-4 (1B, F-7, 1B, F-7, 3 RBI)

AZL CUBS PITCHERS
1. Enrique de los Rios: 4.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP, 2 WP, 1 GIDP, 6/3 GO/FO, 71 pitches (44 strikes) 
2. John Michael Knighton: 2.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, 3/2 GO/FO, 35 pitches (23 strikes) 
3. Ariel Ovando: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 2/1 GO/FO, 31 pitches (18 strikes) 
4. Mark Malave: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 0/2 GO/FO, 18 pitches (12 strikes) 

AZL CUBS ERRORS: 1 
C Jhonny Pereda: E-2 (errant throw on pick-off atempt at 1st base allowerd runner to advance to 2nd)

AZL CUBS CATCHERS DEFENSE
Jhonny Pereda: 0-1 CS, 1 E (see above)

Recent comments

  • 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. 

  • 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.