2022 Cubs Extended Spring Training Roster
2022 CUBS EXTENDED SPRING TRAINING ROSTER
UPDATED 5-20-2022
81 players
* bats or throws left
# bats both
PITCHERS (ACTIVE): 29
Jose Alcila
Elian Almanzar
Michael Arias (ex-INF)
Rony Baez
Yovanny Cabrera
Yohan Crispin
Wilfri Figuereo
Angel Gonzalez
* Angel Hernandez
Ben Hecht (ACTIVE REHAB)
* Ben Holmes
Zac Leigh (ACTIVE REHAB)
Anthony Martinez
Michael McAvene (ACTIVE REHAB)
Anthony Mendez
Gregori Montano
Gleiber Morales
Koen Moreno (ACTIVE REHAB)
* Jack Patterson (ACTIVE REHAB)
Kenyi Perez
Starlyn Pichardo
Samuel Reyes (ACTIVE REHAB)
Cristian Rojas
Jose Romero
Oliver Roque
Tomy Sanchez
* Marino Santy
Joel Sierra
Alfredo Zarraga
PITCHERS (REHAB / CONDITIONING): 19
Adbert Alzolay
* Steven Brault
Derek Casey
Yovanny Cruz
Kelvin Feliz
* Drew Gray
Dominic Hambley
Codi Heuer
Jonathan Holder
Gabriel Jaramillo
Tanner Jesson-Dalton
Chris Kachmar
* Joel Machado
* Brailyn Marquez
Erian Rodriguez
* Andricson Salvador
Alberto Soto
Sam Thoresen
* Brad Wieck
CATCHERS (ACTIVE): 7
* Moises Ballesteros
# Dilan Granadillo
Miguel Pabon (ex-INF)
* Ronnier Quintero
* Wally Soto
* Bryan Serra (ex-INF)
* Tim Susnara (ACTIVE REHAB)
CATCHERS (REHAB / CONDITIONING): 3
Miguel Amaya
Edgar Gamargo
# Casey Opitz
INFIELDERS (ACTIVE): 9
# Reivaj Garcia
Cristian Hernandez
# Josue Huma
Rafael Morel
Christian Olivo
# Pedro Ramirez
Alejandro Rivero
Joanfran Rojas
Matt Warkentin
INFIELDERS (REHAB / CONDITIONING): 1
# Pedro Ramirez
OUTFIELDERS (ACTIVE): 8
Brayan Altuve
# Flemin Bautista
Raino Coran
* Donnie Dewees (ACTIVE REHAB)
Frank Hernandez
* Cristian More
Carlos Morfa
* Anderson Suriel
OUTFIELDERS (REHAB / CONDITIONING): 5
Ioannis Aleksandrov
* D. J. Artis
* Parker Chavers
Christian Franklin
* Ismael Mena
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
Looks like a lot of bodies
Looks like a lot of bodies for Phil to watch.
Thank you Phil. Hope to see
Thank you Phil. Hope to see you there. Lots of talent there to watch.
INF Miguel Pabon is now in
INF Miguel Pabon is now in the catcher's group at EXST, so he apparently will be adding that to his utility resume.
An interesting thing about
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
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.
A long one, I'm guessing!
A long one, I'm guessing!
TCR has some of the best
TCR has some of the best amateur scouting on the internet.
The Arizona Complex League
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.
Further info about the ACL:
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).
Phil, Will the ACL games be
Phil, Will the ACL games be played at the big stadium (at Sloan Park) or in Field 1?
G-GROSS: Sloan Park will be
G-GROSS: Sloan Park will be closed for the next three weeks for re-seeding & sod replacement, and hopefully it will be ready for ACL Cubs Opening Day on June 6th. If it isn't ready by that date, the Cubs will play on Field #1 until the Sloan Park field is ready.
Slight change on the default
Slight change on the default start times for ACL games: All Saturday games will normally start at 10 AM.
BRADSBEARD: Matt Warkentin
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.
I noticed Olivo saw some time
I noticed Olivo saw some time in RF during at least one MLB ST game and looked really comfortable out there. Would hate for him to move of SS already as he looks athletic enough to handle it, but it's tough sledding there for sure right now.
There are about a dozen or so
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).
And Edwin Figuera has in fact
And Edwin Figuera has in fact been released
David Bote took ground balls
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
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
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?
azbobbop: The ACL Cubs will
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.