Cubs Take the Field

The Cubs have claimed 26-year old OF Johnny Field off waivers from the Minnesota Twins. 

The 5'10 180 RH-hitting Field was the 5th round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2013 draft out of the Unversity of Arizona, and he made his MLB debut this past season with the Rays. He was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians in July and then a week later was claimed off waivers again, this time by the Twins. So Field rode the Durham-St. Petersburg-Columbus-Rochester-Minneapolis "Super Shuttle" in 2018, hitting a combined 222/254/403 with 13 doubles, nine HR & 21 RBI, four SB (no CS), and 7/72 BB/K in 83 MLB games (233 PA) with the Rays and Twins.

In his last full season in the minors (2017 at AAA Durham), Field hit 261/303/425 with 35 doubles, 12 HR and 57 RBI, 12 SB (7 CS), and 26/98 BB/K in 111 games (480 PA). He plays all three OF positions and was a two-way player (RHP-OF) and a Collegiate Baseball High School All-American at Father Gorman HS in Las Vegas prior to enrolling in college, and he was a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American at U. of A. in 2011.

Field is an athletic defender with a plus-arm and he features XBH pop at the plate and speed on the bases, but he has contact issues and rarely walks. In his last two full seasons in the minors he hit for a higher AVG and drew more walks versus LHP but displayed more HR-power and struck out a bit more against RHP.   

With the addition of Field, the Cubs MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) now stands at 36 (four slots are open), although (again) the open slots won't stay open much longer because the five Cubs on the MLB 60-day DL (RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Justin Hancock, RHP Brandon Morrow, LHP Drew Smyly, and OF Mark Zagunis) must be reinstated no later than 5 PM (Eastern) tomorrow (Friday).

And as very well could be the case with yesterday's waiver claim (LHRP Jerry Vasto), the Cubs may try and outright Field themselves. The fact that he got all the way to the Cubs without being claimed by another club (the Cubs have the #25 waiver claim priority) means they would have a pretty good chance of getting him through waivers if they put him back on the wire right away. And just as with Vasto, there are no off-season restrictions on outrighting Field, either (he cannot elect free-agency if outrighted, he doesn't have enough minor league service time to be a Rule 55 minor league 6YFA, and he does not have Draft-Excluded status).