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 vs. Mets: Series Thread (Games 16-18)

The Cubs (6-9) dropped another series, this time to Atlanta, and now find themselves trailing Pittsburgh and alone in last place in the Central. They did, however, treat us to an offensive explosion in game 2 of that series and got 2-homer games from Bryant, Contreras, and Rizzo in the series. Bryant passed his homer mark from 2020 and is now 0.4 fWAR ahead of his total from that 60-game season, in a quarter of the time. Even so, he's been outhit thusfar by Willson Contreras, who has a .400 OBP. Rizzo's weekend also rocketed his slugging percentage up to .500. So at least the lineup no longer looks like a complete joke when they bring up the 2021 stat graphics at the beginning of the game. The first-place Mets (7-4) roll into town for a midweek series. If the Cubs' bats are going to build on recent success, they'll have to do so against stiff competition.


Game 16, Tuesday, 4/20, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Jake Arrieta (2-1, 3.18 ERA)

NYM: RHP Taijuan Walker (0-0, 2.61 ERA)

Arrieta has strung together three solid if increasingly not-spectacular starts for the season. Last time out he lost while allowing 3 earned runs in 5 innings pitched.

Walker has now pitched in 9 major league seasons; I start with that just in case you are wondering, like I was, how he can be only 28 years old and still seem like he's been around forever. Despite many years of MLB activity, Cubs hitters have seen very little of him. His former division mate, Joc Pederson, has hit .429 against with a homerun in 14 at bats.


Game 17, Wednesday, 4/21, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Zach Davies (1-2, 10.32 ERA)

NYM: LHP David Peterson (1-1, 6.30 ERA)

Davies followed up a 1.2 inning start by going only 4 innings and allowing 4 earned runs last time out. He pitched well enough to earn the win in his first start, but things have taken a nasty turn since then.

Peterson is a lanky lefty coming of a 6-2 debut season with the Mets. He has a broad repertoire of pitches and no history against Cubs hitters.


Game 18, Thursday, 4/22, 6:40 pm central

CHC: RHP Trevor Williams (2-1, 5.02 ERA)

NYM: RHP Jacob deGrom (1-1, 0.45 ERA)

Williams got the lone win against Atlanta. He was the beneficiary of an unnecessary volume of offense, but he allowed only 1 earned run in 5 innings.

Jacob deGrom is matching last year's 98.7 average fastball velocity. This game should be fun. A few Cubs hitters have done well off him--Rizzo is batting .500.

Comments

Follow-up on last week's discussion of Baez's contact and plate discipline woes. Another Fangraphs article notes that he is among league leaders in combined positive change in zone swing rates (swinging at more pitches inside the strike zone) and reduction in chase rate (swinging at pitches outside the zone). See the last table: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-look-at-some-early-season-plate-approa…

This makes his 45% strikeout rate and 1.7% BB rate all the more strange.

You can also find Ian Happ (swinging less overall) and Rizzo & Contreras (chasing less) in tables 1 and 2. It's all tiny 2021 sample sizes, of course.

untested opinion: i like boog/jd better than len/jd

...but damn, i miss len.

that said, boog and jd's sense of humor seem to be more closely aligned and they can play off each other easier.

[ ]

In reply to by crunch

Still getting over knee jerk reaction of fearing it is an ESPN broadcast when hearing Boog's voice.  Small sample size but I like JD more with Boog than I did with Len.  Still think I liked Len/JD more than Boog/JD.

Boog is doing a great job and fitting in well; I just really liked Len. To be fair, Boog/JD haven't had many good games to call this season.  Gotta be tough to being a new broadcast team and trying to add some excitement to some really boring games. 

[ ]

In reply to by Sonicwind75

early on boog had a fustrated moment trying to explain how hard it is to call games remotely because of COVID.

a bit later in the game they showed the TV screen that gives boog/jd various views of the field and that's all they had to create a game calling atmosphere.

it'll be nice when we get back to normal for a variety of reasons.

almora jr came in to pinch run last night and got some hugs from rizzo and some cheers from the fans.

tonight he steps up to pinch hit and a.mills steps off the mound while the fans give almora some cheers.

mills struck him out.  he's 0-3 with 2Ks on the season.

Very frustrating bottom of the 9th in game 3. The caught foul tip against Rizzo turned my outlook on the inning.

Recent comments

  • 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...

  • 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.