Cubs MLB Roster

Cubs Organizational Depth Chart
40-Man Roster Info

40 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (roster is full), plus one player is on the 60-DAY IL 

26 players on MLB RESERVE LIST are ACTIVE, twelve players are on OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT to minors, one player is on the 15-DAY IL, and one player is on the 10-DAY IL

Last updated 3-28-2024
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 13
Yency Almonte
Adbert Alzolay 
Javier Assad
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
* Shota Imanaga
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Hector Neris 
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 7
* Michael Busch 
Garrett Cooper
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson

OUTFIELDERS: 4
* Cody Bellinger 
# 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 

10-DAY IL: 1 
Patrick Wisdom, INF 

15-DAY IL: 1 
Jameson Taillon, P 

60-DAY IL: 1 
Caleb Kilian, P 

 



 

Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

For Joe Martarano It's Back to Baseball

Cubs 2014 22nd round draft pick 1B Joe Martarano will be attending Extended Spring Training in Mesa and will be pursuing a pro baseball career full-time after spending the past four years attending college and playing linebacker at Boise State. He played baseball part-time in the Cubs organization in 2014-15, but decided to concentrate on school and football last season. 

The 6'4 240+ Martarano was a two-way star football player (QB-LB) at Fruitland HS (Idaho), earning Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year and Idaho 3-A State Player of the Year honors in 2012 while also being named an Honorable Mention Parade All-American and signing an NLI with Boise State. And (BTW) he was also a third-baseman on the Fruitland baseball team, and was rated one of the top 150 players in the nation by Baseball America going into the 2013 draft. 

So Martarano was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 13th round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft, but (as expected) did not sign, turning down a $100K bonus offer from the Phils while opting instead to attend Boise State and play football. (Boise State head football coach Chris Petersen refused to allow Martarano to play football at BSU if he signed with the Phillies).   

Because Boise State does not have a baseball team, Martarano was once again eligible for selection (as the rare draft-eligible freshman) in the 2014 draft (normally a player attending a four-year college is not eligible for selection in the MLB First-Year Player Draft until after his junior year or when he turns 21, whichever comes first), and the Cubs selected him in the 22nd round and signed him a month later, even though Martarano hadn't played baseball in more than a year and appeared to be fully-committed to playing college football.

The deal was possible only because the Cubs and new Boise State head football coach Bryan Harsin (Chris Petersen's successor) agreed to let Martarano play football at Boise State (with football being his #1 priority), with the opportunity to play pro baseball in the summer if he was so inclined, and defer his decision about which sport to pursue professionally until he completed his college career.  

Because he was a two-sport player, Martarano's signing bonus (by rule) could be spread over several seasons (either three, four, or five), and in Martarano's case, it was spread over four years (2014-2017). However, he remains under club control at least through the 2020 season (or longer if he is added to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster at some point), giving him at least four seasons to metriculate in the art & science of baseball and (hopefully) advance upward through the Cubs system.      

The 22-year old Martarano suffered a season-ending injury (broken leg) in a game versus UNLV last November, and while that is a concern, he is supposedly 100% ready to rock & roll and is enthusiastically fully-committed to playing baseball going forward. 

From what I remember of him when he was at Extended Spring Training a couple of years ago, Martarano has plus raw-power (at least in BP) and Cubs coaches said his make-up is "off the charts." (Sound familiar?).

Now he just has to work on becoming the best baseball player he can be. 

Comments

Phil, how come the Smokies have so many pitchers? Looks like some people need to be moved yet.

AZ PHIL: How will the Cubs continue without Dallas Beeler around? At least they have Casey Kelly, right? I guess we both had a hunch about Beeler - although you saw him a hell of a lot more than I.

"Live" BP at Minor League Camp this morning (Thursday): LHP Bryan Hudson - four innings (60 pitches) LHP Jose Paulino - three innings (45 pitches) LHP John Williamson - one inning (15 pitches)

tebow hit a HR in his 1st minor league AB...lefty off a lefty, too. btw, the fans are into this whole tebow sideshow...lot of noise for him.

I haven't posted in a little while, and I know this is off-topic for the post/thread, but just wanted to say that I truly appreciate this site and the awesome fans who comment on it. The Cub Reporter is the only site I've found that combines astute reporting on aspects of the Cubs organization that you can't find elsewhere (minor league performance and major league medical analysis), in conjunction with sober (maybe?) but intelligent commenters. I can't think of a single other place on the internet you'd actually want to read the comments, so--many props to all here. Thank you all again for making this site what it is. /resume lineup-bashing

[ ]

In reply to by SheffieldCornelia

Thanks, Shef. I always say that we have the best commenters on the web, and I'm glad there's at least one other person who agrees. 

Also, everyone should be on the lookout for a bit of a site retooling, and don't be shocked if a little down time comes with it. We're replacing the old duct tape with some championship-grade duct tape.

AZ PHIL: Where is Chris Dominguez? I heard he was hurt but I'm not seeing him either as on Iowa's DL or in Extended ST? Haven't seen him released either.

Ex-Brewers & ex-Reds LHRP Manny Parra (April 2016 TJS) and RHRP Andury Acevedo threw "live" BP at Minor League Camp this morning. Both pitchers threw one inning (20 pitches). Acevedo pitched in Minor League Camp Cactus League games last month, but this was the first time the 34-year old Parra has pitched to hitters since his TJS a year ago.

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    steele MRI on friday.  counsell expects an IL stint.

    no current plans for his rotation replacement.

  • hellfrozeover (view)

    I would say also in the bright side column is Busch looked pretty good overall at the plate. Alzolay…man, that hurts but most of the time he’s not giving up a homer to that guy. To me the worst was almonte hanging that pitch to Garcia. He hung another one to the next hitter too and got away with it on an 0-1. 

  • crunch (view)

    amaya blocked like 6-8 of smyly's pitches in the dirt very cleanly...not even an exaggeration, smyly threw a ton of pitches bouncing in tonight.

    neris looking like his old self was a relief (no pun), too.

  • TarzanJoeWallis (view)

    In looking for bright spots the defense was outstanding tonight. The “stars” are going to need to shine quite a bit brighter than they did tonight offensively though for this to be a successful season.

  • Eric S (view)

    Good baseball game. Hopefully Steele is pitching again in April (but I’m not counting on it). 

  • crunch (view)

    boo.

  • crunch (view)

    smyly to face the 2/3/4 hitters with a man on 2nd in extras.

    this doesn't seem like a 8 million dollar managerial decision.

  • crunch (view)

    i 100% agree with you, but i dunno how jed wants to run things.  the default is delay.  i would choose brown.

    like hellfrozeover says, could be smyly since he's technically fresh and stretched.

    anyway, on a pure talent basis....brown is the best option.

  • Childersb3 (view)

    Use pitchers when you believe they're good. Don't plan their clock.

    I'm sorry. I'm simply anti-clock/contract management. Play guys when they show real MLB potential talent.

    If Brown hadn't been hurt with the Lat Strain he would've gotten the call, and not Wick.

    Give him a chance. 

    But Wesneski probably gets it

  • crunch (view)

    alzolay...bro...