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

2022 Cubs Extended Spring Training Roster

2022 CUBS EXTENDED SPRING TRAINING ROSTER 

UPDATED 6-1-2022 

51 players   

* bats or throws left 
# bats both 

PITCHERS: 27 
Jose Alcila 
Elian Almanzar 
Michael Arias (ex-INF) 
Rony Baez 
Yovanny Cabrera 
Yovanny Cruz (ACTIVE REHAB)
Wilfri Figuereo 
Dominic Hambley
Gabriel Jaramillo (ACTIVE REHAB)
Tanner Jesson-Dalton (ACTIVE REHAB)
Anthony Martinez 
Mivhael McAvene (ACTIVE REHAB)
Anthony Mendez 
Gregori Montano 
Gleiber Morales 
Koen Moreno 
* Jack Patterson (ACTIVE REHAB)
Kenyi Perez 
Starlyn Pichardo 
Cristian Rojas 
Jose Romero 
Oliver Roque 
Tomy Sanchez 
* Marino Santy 
Joel Sierra 
Alberto Sojo (ACTIVE REHAB) 
Sam Thoresen (ACTIVE REHAB)

CATCHERS (ACTIVE): 8 
* Moises Ballesteros 
Edgar Gamargo
# Dilan Granadillo 
Miguel Pabon (ex-INF)
* Ronnier Quintero 
* Wally Soto 
* Bryan Serra (ex-INF) 
* Tim Susnara (ACTIVE REHAB)

INFIELDERS: 9 
# Reivaj Garcia 
Cristian Hernandez 
# Josue Huma 
Rafael Morel 
Christian Olivo 
# Pedro Ramirez  
Alejandro Rivero 
Joanfran Rojas 
Matt Warkentin 

OUTFIELDERS: 7  
Brayan Altuve 
# Flemin Bautista
Raino Coran 
* Ismael Mena
* Cristian More 
Carlos Morfa
* Anderson Suriel 

MANAGER
Edgar Perez 

COACHES
Yovanny Cuevas (outfield)  
Armando Gabino (pitching) 
Rachel Folden (hitting) 
Eric Patterson (infield & baserunning) 
Doug Willey (pitching)  

TRAINER
Maggie Lowenthar 

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING 
John Abbott 
Ryan Clausen 

MESA REHAB 
Jonathan Fierro (Rehab Training Coordinator) 
Josh Zeid (Rehab Pitching Coordinator) 
Austin Shumaker (Rehab Catcher) 

Comments

INF Miguel Pabon is now in the catcher's group at EXST, so he apparently will be adding that to his utility resume.  

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

An interesting thing about Miguel Pabon is that when the Cubs drafted him out of Puerto Rico in 2018 he was a puny 160 pound shortstop, but then he missed the 2019 season after undergoing shoulder surgery and the 2020 season because there was no minor league season. During that two-year period, it looks like he put on at least 30 pounds. He has definitely outgrown shortstop and so he has played a lot of 2B and 1B, but he no longer has a middle-infielder's range and while he has shown some HR power in BP he hasn't hit enough to play just 1B. So if he can be even just adequate as a catcher, that could save his career.  

Not sure if this was in the update yesterday or I just missed it before, but just noticed Matt Warkentin is pitching now. He's a 6'6" lefty so it will be interesting to see what kind of arm he has. 

The Arizona Complex League (ACL) will begin play on June 6th. This will be the earliest start date ever for the ACL (formerly AZL), the shortest Extended Spring Training ever, and with the MLB First-Year Player Draft taking place during the All-Star Break, this will be the longest gap (six weeks) between the start of the ACL season and the draft. In fact, prior to moving the draft to July last year, the AZL season always began a couple of weeks AFTER the draft. 

ACL teams will play five games a week through August for a total of 65 games. Just as with Extended Spring Training games, ACL games can be pre-planned to be seven innings in length if one or both teams are short of pitchers. There will be 18 teams in the league, with all 15 MLB Arizona Spring Training clubs fielding at least one team. Three of the organizations will field two teams, but the Cubs are not one of them. There will be no roster limit in the ACL, other than the general in-season minor league 180-man Domestic Reserve List that went into effect on Opening Day. 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Further info about the ACL:

Games will be played at 6 PM on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, with no games scheduled on Wednesdays or Sundays. A Wednesday can be used to make up a postponed game, and teams can  schedule a "camp day" (workout/instruction) on a Wednesday if they wish, but Sunday is always an off day. There are no games scheduled on the Monday & Tuesday of the MLB All Start Break, so ACL teams will have four days off in a row (Sunday through Wednesday) during the MLB All Star Break. 

With consent of the opponent a club can change the start time of a game (morning games are sometimes played on Saturdays and holidays), but 6 PM is the default start time for all single games. Doubleheaders will be scheduled only as a make-up of a postponed game, and will start at 5 PM and each game will be seven innings. A single game can be scheduled to be only seven innings if one of the teams doesn't have enough pitchers available to play nine innings.  

The ACL regular season will be 55 games. The regular season starts on Monday 6/6 and ends on Tuesday 8/23. The ACL playoffs begin on Thursday 8/25.   

The three organizations that will be fielding two ACL teams are the Arizona Diamondbacks ("Black" and "Red"), the Milwaukee Brewers ("Blue" and "Gold"), and the San Francisco Giants ("Orange" and "Black"). The D'backs are the only MLB organization in Arizona fielding two EXST squads this year, so it will be interesting to see how the Brewers and Giants are able to do two teams in the ACL, especially with the MLB draft taking place six weeks after the start of the ACL regular season.  

There is no roster limit for ACL teams, except to the extent that the roster is limited by the 180-man minor league Domestic Reserve List limit that is in effect during the minor league regular season. However, a player signed after being selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft does not count against the organization's minor league Domestic Reserve List until he plays in a minor league regular season game or until the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season (whichever comes first). 

[ ]

In reply to by Arizona Phil

Like the ACL, the Dominican Summer League (DSL) Opening Day will be June 6th, and also like the ACL, the DSL regular season concludes on August 23. All DSL games will be played in the morning. The Cubs will once again be running two teams (Red and Blue), with a maximum of 35 players on each squad. DSL games will be played Monday through Saturday with Sundays off, and a few Wednesdays will be off days as well. 60 games total in DSL (ACL teams play 55, because they have all Wednesdays off). 

BRADSBEARD: Matt Warkentin was playing 1B in Minor League Camp but he also threw some "live BP," so it appeared as though the Cubs were maybe going to try him as a two-way player (LHP / 1B). However, he has been working strictly as a pitcher in EXST, although he has not yet appeared in any games. He was a two-way player in college at Xavier, but the Cubs signed him out of Indy ball last year as a first-baseman. 

Besides INF Miguel Pabon working as a catcher in drills and catching bullpens, INF Christian Olivo has been getting a lot of reps in the outfield. He did play 3B on Friday, but he mostly has been playing outfield in drills and in games. He's a very athletic player with a plus arm, and of course he is blocked at SS by Cristian Hernandez, Reggie Preciado, Kevin Made, and Ed Howard. 

Just like last year at Instructs, Brayan Altuve is strictly an outfielder. He is NOT a catcher and probably never will be one ever again. Altuve is fast, has a plus arm, and has outstanding range in the outfield. It's hard to believe he was ever a catcher. 

There are about a dozen or so players presently at EXST who are not rehabbing but who definitely will not play in the ACL. They are sort of "hanging out" at EXST as potential injury replacements at one of the four full-season teams:  

Grayson Byrd, 1B 
Reivaj Garcia, INF 
Ben Holmes, LHP 
Bailey Horn, LHP
Josue Huma, INF  
Bryan King, LHP   
C. D. Pelham, LHP
Samuel Reyes, RHP   
Carlos Sepulveda, INF
Wyatt Short, LHP   
Jake Slaughter, INF 

INF Edwin Figuera was at EXST a couple of days ago, but he has disappeared. He's no longer at EXST. Either he has been moved up to a full-season affiliate or he has been released (TBD).

David Bote took ground balls at EXST Camp Day yesterday on Field #1, 15 minutes at 2B and 15 minutes at 3B. so he should be getting close to being EXST game-ready.

The problem with Bote is that he really doesn't have an obvious place on the Cubs Active List roster, so there is a good chance he will be optioned to AAA once he is healthy enough to play. He could even be outrighted, since he will not likely elect free-agency if he is outrighted because his contract would be terminated and he would lose millions of dollars in salary going forward.  

The earliest the four MLB Cubs players on the 60-day IL (Adbert Alzolay, David Bote, Codi Heuer, and Brad Wieck) can be reinstated is June 6th, although Heuer had TJS a couple of months and so he will miss the entire 2022 season.   

Keep in mind that the eight post-2021 Article XX-B free-agents on the Cubs roster (Mychal Givens, Yan Gomes, Daniel Norris, David Robertson, Andrelton Simmons, Drew Smyly, Marcus Stroman, and Jonathan Villar) have automatic full "no trade" rights through June 15th. The player can give his consent to a trade, but he doesn't have to. NOTE: While Jesse Chavez was a post-2021 MLB Article XX-B free-agent, he signed a minor league contract prior to Spring Training and so he did get the automatic "no trade" rights like the others, which is why the Cubs could trade him to the Braves without needing his consent. 

Having Article XX-B "no trade" rights also means the player can't be placed on outright assignment waivers without his consent. He can be released, however, but if that happens the Cubs would be on the hook for what remains of the player's salary (minus the pro-rated MLB minimum salary if the player subsequently signs a major league contract with another MLB club after being released). 

Phil! I'm curious about the AZL schedule. Seems like the Cubs have a lot of games vs. the Reds and Guardians. That's great for me because I live on the west side but seems a little geographically out of context. Thoughts?

[ ]

In reply to by azbobbop

azbobbop: The ACL Cubs will be in the same division as the Athletics, Brewers Blue, Brewers Gold, Guardians, and Reds. This is because the A's and Cubs will travel to Goodyear and the Reds and Guardians will travel to Mesa during the afternoon rush-hour via the Loop 101 Price Freeway & the significantly less congested Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway, and given that it was decided that the Cubs, A's, Reds, anf Guardians should be together in one division with two more teams needed, Maryvale (Brewers Blue and Brewers Gold) was deemed the best location between Goodyear and Mesa. 

The Angels, Giants Black, Giants Orange, Diamondbacks Black, Diamondbacks Red, and Rockies are in another division where all six of the teams are located very close together, and the Rangers, Royals, Mariners, Padres, Dodgers, and White Sox are in the third division, and those six teams are reasonably near to each other.     

The Cubs division is the weird one geographically, but it was necessary given the three divisions and where the 18 ACL teams are located. One of the three divisions was bound to be sub-optimal, and the powers that be figured this was the best alternative. 

Recent comments

  • 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.

  • 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...