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

Hull and Kipp Dominate at Riverview

Haydn McGeary laced a single and an RBI double, both Nazier Mule and Anderson Suriel doubled and scored, and Nick Hull and Grant Kipp combined to hurl six innings of five-hit shutout ball with no walks and seven strikeouts, as the Cubs "Blue Squad" and the Cubs "Red Squad" played to a 2-2 tie in AZ Instructional League game action Friday morning on Field # 1 at the Riverview Baseball Complex in Mesa, AZ.   

The game was called after 6-1/2 innings of play.   

Carlos Sepulveda (on AAA Iowa 7-day IL) served as a DH for both squads and batted twice, going 1-2 with a single. 

Here is the box score from the game:
CUBS "BLUE SQUAD" LINEUP
1a. Ismael Mena, DH #1: 0-2 (K, K) 
1b. Nazier Mule, PH: 1-1 (2B, R)
2. Christopher Paciolla, SS: 1-3 (1B, 5-3, 5-3)
3. Rafael Morel, 3B: 1-3 (F-9, K, 1B, RBI)
4a. Carlos Sepulveda, DH #2: 1-1 (1B) 
4b. Yoanis Aleksandrov, C: 0-2 (K, K) 
5. Pedro Ramirez, CF: 0-3 (3-6 FC, 3-U, 4-3) 
6. Jefferson Rojas, 2B: 0-3 (P-6, K, P-6)
7. Anderson Suriel,1B: 1-3 (4-3, 2B, K, R)
8. Josefrailin Alcantara, RF: 0-2 (4-3, 6-3)
9. Brayan Altuve, LF: 0-2 (K, K) 
10a. David Avitia, C-DH: 1-1 (1B) 
10b. Erbin Jaque, PH: 1-1 (1B) 

CUBS "RED SQUAD" LINEUP
1. Reggie Preciado, 3B: 0-3 (K, 4-3, 4-3 DP)
2. Cristian Hernandez, SS: 0-2 (5-3, BB, K, R, SB) 
3. Andy Garriola, RF: 0-3 (K, 6-3, K) 
4. Ethan Hearn, DH #1: 0-2 (K, BB, F-7)
5. Alexis Hernandez, 2B: 1-2 (1B, K, CS) 
6. Raino Coran, LF:  0-1 (5-3, BB, R) 
7. Haydn McGeary, 1B: 2-2 (1B, 2B, RBI) 
8. Ke'Shun Collier, CF: 0-1 (K, BB, SB) 
9a. Carlos Sepulveda, DH #2: 0-1 (3-U) 
9b. Adan Sanchez, PH-C: 0-0 (BB)  
10a. Miguel Pabon, C: 0-1 (L-7) 
10b. Malcom Quintero, C-DH: 0-0 (BB)  

CUBS "BLUE SQUAD" PITCHERS:
1. Grant Kipp: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 3/1 GO/AO, 40 pitches (30 strikes) 
2. Kevin Valdez: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, 2/0 GO/AO, 44 pitches (19 strikes) 
3. Max Bain: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 GIDP, 1/1 GO/AO, 23 pitches (11 strikes) 

CUBS "RED SQUAD" PITCHERS:
1. Nick Hull: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 4/2 GO/AO, 37 pitches (29 strikes) 
2. Michael Arias: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 4 K, 1 WP, 27 pitches (16 strikes)
3. Brandon Birdsell: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 2/1 GO/AO, 29 pitches (21 strikes) 

CUBS "BLUE SQUAD" ERRORS: NONE  

CUBS "RED SQUAD" ERRORS: NONE 

CUBS "BLUE SQUAD" CATCHERS DEFENSE
1. David Avitia: 1-1 CS, 1 PB 
2. Yoanis Aleksandrov: 0-2 CS, 1 PB 

CUBS "RED SQUAD" OUTFIELD ASSIST
RF Andy Garriola - batter (Erbin Jaque) thrown out 9-6 attempting to stretch a single into a double 

ATTENDANCE: 10 

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures in the 90's 

Arizona 
Scoring 
Service 

"Just because it isn't official doesn't mean it didn't happen" 

Comments

nick hull doesn't seem to be quite ready for corporate middle management.

how does grant kipp look?  cruddy college numbers, but vastly better summer wood bat league numbers.  odd combo.

CRUNCH: Both Nick Hull and Grant Kipp are polished college seniors and should be more than ready for South Bend in 2023. Whether their stuff will be good enough to get AA hitters out once they get there is another matter entirely (TBD). 

Both Hull and Kipp throw a high percentage of strikes (both over 75%). Hull FB 90-93, SL 82-85, and CV 78. Kipp FB  88-92, CH 80-81, SL 81-82,  CV 77-79.

Hull was an outstanding closer at GCU before his senior year when he became a SP so he could end up in the pen, and Kipp was captain of his baseball team at Yale (unusual for a pitcher) and pitched very well in the Cape Cod League prior to the Cubs signing him as a post-draft NDFA in July. 

Like Grant Kipp, 2022 10th round pick Brody McCullough got the Cubs attention with a fine Cape Cod League performance in 2022 (he was named Cape Cod League Pitcher of the Week the Saturday before the draft), and while McCullough has the higher velo FB (92-95) and hotter SL (83-85), Kipp has much better command of his repertoire and is just a better pitcher than McCullough right now. Same goes for Hull. 

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    in other news, it took 3 PA before a.rizzo got his 1st HBP of the season.

  • Eric S (view)

    With two home runs (so far) and 5 rbi today … clearly Nick Martini is the straw that stirs the Reds drink 😳

  • 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.