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 and Angels Tie One On at Diablo Park

Xavier Batista blasted his fourth home run in four games (a solo shot in the top of the 6th that put him into a tie for the team-lead in HR with Jeffrey Baez), Jose Morales hammered an RBI triple, scored a run, and drew a walk, and Carlos Penalver doubled, walked, and scored two runs, as the Cubs and Angels played to a 6-6 tie in Cactus League Extended Spring Training action this morning at Diablo Park Field #6 in Tempe, AZ.   

Junior Lake played six innings at 3B and batted six times, going 1-6. He drove-in a run with an RBI 5-3 GO in the 1st, reached base on an RBI infield single, stole a base, and scored a run in the 2nd, struck out swinging in the 3rd, reached base on a 5-4 FC and stole a base in the 5th, was called out on strikes in the 6th, and struck out swinging in the 7th. 

In five Cactus League Extended Spring Training games (26 PA), Lake is hitting 409/500/682 with six doubles, seven runs scored, three RBI, 3/6 BB/K, and 3 SB (1 CS). He has played three of the five EXST games at 3B and two in CF, and he has not commited an error at either position.   

RHP Paul Blackburn got the start for the Cubs and was roughed-up in the bottom of the 1st inning, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits (four singles and a triple).  Bit then he got into a groove and retired nine in a row. 

RHP Armando Rivero relieved Blackburn and was hit hard, allowing three runs on five hits (four singles and a triple) in 1.2 IP. He struck out three (all three swinging).  

Here is the abridged box score from today's game (Cubs players only):  



CUBS LINEUP:
X-1. Jose Morales, DH #1: 1-4 (3B, F-8, F-8, 4-3, BB, R, RBI)
NOTE: Morales batted five times, hitting 2nd in the top of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings  
X-2. Junior Lake, 3B: 1-6 (5-3, 1B, K, 5-4 FC, K, K, R, 2 RBI, 2 SB)
NOTE: Lake batted six times, hitting third in the top of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings
1. Rashad Crawford, CF: 2-4 (1B, 1B, 3-1, 3-U, R, RBI)
2. Shawon Dunston Jr, LF: 1-4 (1B, K, P-6, K)
3. Xavier Batista, RF: 2-4 (E-9, K, HR, 1B, R, RBI) 
4. Jacob Rogers, 1B: 0-2 (BB, BB, K, 4-6-3 DP)
5. Jose Dore, DH #2: 0-2 (K, BB, BB, F-9)
6. Brad Zapenas, 2B: 1-2 (L-7, 1B, 5-3 SH)
7. Carlos Penalver, SS: 1-2 (2B, BB, L-4, 2 R)
8a. Wilfredo Petit, C: 0-2 (P-3, P-5)
8b. Erick Castillo, C: 0-1 (5-3)
9a. SLOT WAS SKIPPED FIRST TWO TIMES THRU BATTING ORDER
9b. Jesse Hodges, 3B: 0-0 (BB)

CUBS PITCHERS:
1. Paul Blackburn: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 5 K, 74 pitches (46 strikes), 4/3 GO/FO
2. Armando Rivero: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, 41 pitches (30 strikes), 1/1 GO/FO
3. Matt Iannazzo: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 PO, 26 pitches (18 strikes),  2/0 GO/FO 
4. Tyler Bremer: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 20 pitches (14 strikes), 2/1 GO/FO

CUBS ERRORS: 1
2B Brad Zapenas - E-4 (fielding error allowed batter to reach base safely - eventually scored unearned run)

CUBS CATCHERS DEFENSE:
Erick Castillo: 0-2 CS

ATTENDANCE: 3

WEATHER: Sunny with temperatures 100+

 

Comments

[ ]

In reply to by jacos

always unfortunate when life gets in the way of pleasurable pursuits...

but also cared way more about the Hawks game than the Cubs suckfest that they trot out most nights.

Wed's game is at 4pm out here for some God forsaken reason, no way to make it there on time without taking the whole day off which isn't happening.

unlikely cycle watch in progress... d.ortiz with a double and a triple (first since April 11th 2011, 17th career) through 2 innings.

Ian Stewart hits his first HR in Iowa for 2013. Some poor AAA pitcher (Matt Neil) found that one plane.

Tommy Birch‏@TommyBirch Huge news for #Cubs fans: #IowaCubs manager Marty Pevey said prospect Junior Lake is expected to join the team on Thursday.

Jim Callis‏@jimcallisBA Beginning to sense #Astros leaning to Appel if $ fit like they want.

[ ]

In reply to by Old and Blue

I looked into it just for kicks, 1st Round June Draft Pitchers with career WAR over 10: 1990: Alex Fernandez (28.9), Mike Mussina (83.0), Steve Karsay (11.2) 1991: Joey Hamilton (14.6), Shawn Estes (11.1), Aaron Sele (20.6), Justin Thompson (12.9) 1992: Rick Helling (20.6) 1993: Brian Anderson (11.4), Billy Wagner (28.1), Chris Carpenter (34.5) 1994: Dustin Hermason (11.4) 1995: Kerry Wood (27.7), Matt Morris (20.5), Roy Halladay (64.6) 1996: Kris Benson (13.0), R.A. Dickey (14.5), Eric Milton (16.6), Jake Westbrook (15.4), Gil Meche (17.1) 1997: Jon Garland (22.5) 1998: Mark Mulder (20.0), Jeff Weaver (15.4), CC Sabathia (56.1), Matt Thornton (11.4) 1999: Josh Beckett (34.0), Barry Zito (35.4), Ben Sheets (23.4), Brett Myers (14.4), Jason Jennings (11.4) 2000: Adam Wainwright (26.3) 2001: Mark Prior (16.5), Gavin Floyd (14.9), Noah Lowry (10.2) 2002: Zach Greinke (32.0), Jeff Francis (10.5), Joe Saunders (10.2), Scott Kazmir (16.6), Cole Hamels (30.0), Jeremy Guthrie (18.4), Joe Blanton (10.4), Matt Cain (31.5) 2003: Paul Maholm (13.7), John Danks (19.4), Chad Billingsley (17.2) 2004: Justin Verlander (37.1), Jared Weaver (30.4), Gio Gonzalez (12.5), Houston Street (10.0) 2005: Matt Garza (13.1), Clay Bucholtz (13.8) 2006: Clayton Kershaw (28.6), Tim Lincecum (22.9), Max Scherzer (13.1), Ian Kennedy (10.4) 2007: David Price (15.1) also, Madison Bumgarner (9.2) Notables in Recent Drafts 2008: Lance Lynn (4.2), Wade Miley (3.3) 2009: Stephen Strasburg (7.0), Mike Minor (2.3), Shelby Miller (3.2) 2010: Matt Harvey (5.1), Chris Sale (12.5)

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Heh. While this is great, O&B's point (I guess) was "injured within 3 years". Strassbourg would qualify for this. But, he's still impressive. Checked out the Cole Hammels 30WAR. Dammmnn! So, it would appear that there is noteworthy arm injuries for touted pitchers, it a characteristic of the position in our era. If TJS was offered as an IPO, I'd probably buy stock. Its gonna be interesting to see how/if Vizcaino will recover.

[ ]

In reply to by The E-Man

Well, he said: "I'd like to see a list of recent first rounders with long careers - I'm talking 3 years plus, even" so I generated that list. But, there are probably 15-20 pitchers in each first round that either never even make it to the big leagues, make it and have short and sucky careers, or make it but get injured and suck. But that's the nature of drafting and baseball I suppose. So there is a high likelihood that either pitcher the Cubs take will not make it or will turn out to be terrible, but there are usually a handful of good, solid, long-career starters that come out of each first-round, so one can hope.

[ ]

In reply to by WISCGRAD

to expand upon that, here are the pitchers drafted #1 or #2 overall out of college since 1980.

1981 - #1 Mike Moore (28.2 career WAR)

1983 - #1 Tim Belcher (26.9)

1984 - #2 Bill Swift (18.7)

1986 - #2 Greg Swindell (30.3)

1988 - #1 Andy Benes (31.7)

1989 - #1 Ben McDonald (20.9)

1992 - #2 Paul Shuey (7.0)

1993 - #2 Darren Dreifort (7.9)

1994 - #1 Paul Wilson (2.2)

1996 - #1 Kris Benson (13.0)

1997 - #1 Matt Anderson (-0.5)

1998 - #2 Mark Mulder (20.0)

2000 - #2 Adam Johnson (-1.1)

2001 - #2 Mark Prior (16.5)

2002 - #1 Bryan Bullington (-0.2)

2004 - #2 Justin Verlander (37.1)

2006 - #1 Luke Hochever (0.8), #2 Greg Reynolds (-1.3)

2007 - #1 David Price (15.1)

2009 - #1 Stephen Strasburg (7.0)

2010 - #2 Jameson Tailon

2011 - #1 Gerrit Cole, #2 Danny Hultzen

And honestly, if you break it out to high school pitchers, that just adds Brien Taylor and Josh Beckett I believe (apologies if I'm missing someone).

We can discount Tailon, Cole and Hultzen as they haven't seen the majors yet. That leaves 20 names. I'd say 5 are all-out busts (G. Reynolds, B. Bullington, A. Johnson, M. Anderson and P. Wilson). Hochevar is probably a disappointment, but looks like he's could at least have a decent career in the bullpen. I'd say 12 have had decent careers or headed that way (Verlander, Price, Strasburg, Prior, Mulder, Benson, McDonald, Benes, Swindell, Belcher, Swift, Moore). Some of those could have been better without injuries of course (McDonald, Prior and Mulder to begin with). I don't know anything about Paul Shuey, but i presume some injury forced him to the pen, but he was decent out of there for his career. Dreifort looked like he was well on his way to a good career before arm injuries.

Not the greatest odds that the pick will succeed (depending on your personal definition of baseball success), but slightly above a flip of the coin. As for this pick of the Cubs becoming an ace with a lengthy career, those odds seem quite slim, which will make the pick a disappointment in many fans' eyes.

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

my feeling is that if Bryant was special, he'd have been drafted out of high school near the top of the draft. If you look at the history of top college bats with the first 2 picks, very few real stars. Some good players, but I'd say just two real stars (Clark & Drew...I think Erstad has the third best WAR of the group mostly thanks to his defense).

Joe Carter ('81- #2 pick), BJ Surhoff('85 - #1), Will Clark ('85 - #2), Jeff King (#1 - '86), Mike Kelly ('91 - #2), Phil Nevin('92 - #1), Darin Erstad ('95 - #1), Travis Lee ('96 - #2), JD Drew ('97 - #2),  Pat Burrell ('98 - #1), Rickie Weeks ('03 - #2), Alex Gordon ('05 - #2), Pedro Alvarez ('08 - #2), Dustin Ackley('09 - #2)

That's not saying that Bryant won't be good, but there was a study not too long ago that one of the best draft strategies is to get the youngest guy. Essentially get them into pro ball as young as possible...so a guy like Frazier might be the best bet to hit a home run with this pick (I doubt the Cubs go that way though).

[ ]

In reply to by QuietMan

it would pretty much shock the world if the cubs went with anyone but appell/gray. it's also worth mentioning that bryant is a junior, so whoever drafts him will most likely have to pay #1-3 overall pick money to him no matter where he slots. thanks to the new draft/loot setup we're probably going to be seeing a lot more highschool kids, community college transfers, and college juniors passing up their draft pick unless they get paid if they think they have the talent to move up in following years.

is castro capable of catching any ball thrown to him by an OF'r or catcher on a play at the bag? he's in such a hurry to apply the tag he consistently keeps missing the f'n ball. ...and pujols hits a 2 run homer as i type this. neat. who needs a tie game when you can be behind by 1 run?

[ ]

In reply to by JoePepitone

Fart.

If EpHoy had bothered to do to the bullpen what it did to the rotation, this might have been a bloody playoff team. Instead it's another top 5 pick.

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)

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  • Arizona Phil (view)

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  • Arizona Phil (view)

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  • Arizona Phil (view)

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  • crunch (view)

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  • 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...