Cubs MLB Roster

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37 players are on the MLB RESERVE LIST (three slots are open)

Last updated 11-17-2023
 
* bats or throws left
# bats both

PITCHERS: 20
Adbert Alzolay 
Michael Arias
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Jose Cuas
Kyle Hendricks
Porter Hodge
* Bailey Horn
Caleb Kilian
Mark Leiter Jr
* Luke Little
Julian Merryweather
Daniel Palencia
Michael Rucker
* Drew Smyly
* Justin Steele
Jameson Taillon
Keegan Thompson
Hayden Wesneski 
* Jordan Wicks

CATCHERS: 2
Miguel Amaya
Yan Gomes

INFIELDERS: 8
Nico Hoerner
Nick Madrigal
* Miles Mastrobuoni
* Matt Mervis
Christopher Morel
Dansby Swanson
Luis Vazquez
Patrick Wisdom

OUTFIELDERS: 7
Kevin Alcantara
Alexander Canario
* Pete Crow-Armstrong
Brennen Davis
# Ian Happ
Seiya Suzuki
* Mike Tauchman

 


Minor League Rosters
Rule 5 Draft 
Minor League Free-Agents

D'backs Let Their Sticks Do the Talking at Salt River Fields

Submitted by Arizona Phil on

Kenny Castillo blasted a three-run HR in the bottom of the 1st, Alexander Benua hammered an RBI triple and scored in the 1st, walked in the 3rd, singled, stole two bases, and scored a run in the 6th, and singled and scored in the 8th, Yerald Nin cracked a bases-loaded bases-clearing double in the 8th, and Juan Aparicio singled twice, walked, stole two bases, and scored a run, as the Diamondbacks scored early and often en route to a 13-5 thrashing of the Cubs in Arizona Instructional League game action Thursday morning on Whirlwind Field at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, east of Scottsdale, AZ.  

Yahil Melendez belted a triple leading off the game and scored the first run and then he singled in the 5th, Adan Sanchez drilled three singles and scored two runs, Jose Escobar sliced two oppo-field line-drive doubles into the LF corner and scored a run, and Ed Howard collected two RBI on a pair of sacrifice flies, drew a walk, and stole a base for the Cubs. 

D'back pitchers struck out 15 Cub batters, including Jefferson Encarnacion four times and Drew Bowser three times. 

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

AZIL CUBS LINEUP:
1a. Yahil Melendez, 2B: 2-3 (3B, K, 1B, R)
1b. Alexis Hernandez, 2B: 0-2 (K, L-8)
2. Ed Howard, SS: 0-2 (F-8 SF, 5-3, 6-4-3 DP, BB, F-8 SF, 2 RBI, SB)
3. Carter Trice, DH-C: 0-3 (F-8, K, K, BB, BB) 
4. Jefferson Encarnacion, RF: 0-4 (K, K, BB, K, K) 
5. Adan Sanchez, C-DH: 3-4 (1B, 1B, K, 1B, 2 R)
6. Drew Bowser, 1B: 1-4 (K, 1B, K, K) 
7. Alfonsin Rosario, CF: 1-3 (F-8 SF, 4-6 FC, 1B, K, R, RBI)
8a. Geuri Lubo, 3B: 1-2 (F-8, 1B, RBI)
8b. Reggie Preciado, 3B: 1-2 (2B, K) 
9. Jose Escobar, LF: 2-4 (2B, F-9, K, 2B, R)

AZIL CUBS PITCHERS: 
1. Juan Bello: 2.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R (6 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 2 HBP, 1 HR, 1 BALK, 1/4 GO/AO, 44 pitches (27 strikes) 
2. Carlos Garcia: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 6 K, 2/1 GO/AO, 64 pitches (38 strikes) 
3. Dominic Hambley: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R (4 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, 1/2 GO/AO, 43 pitches (26 strikes)

AZIL ERRORS: 2 
1. 2B Alexis Hernandez: E-4 (errant throw to 1st base on infield single allowed batter to advance to 2nd)
2. P Dominic Hambley: E-1 (errant throw to 1st base on attempted 1-3 putout allowed batter to reach base safely)

AZIL CATCHERS DEFENSE: 
1. Adan Sanchez: 1-6 CS 
2. Carter Trice: 1-1 CS, 1 PB 

WEATHER: Mostly sunny with temperatures 100+ 

ATTENDANCE: 13 

Arizona 
Scoring 
Service 

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

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Cubs Instructs

Comments

Submitted by KingKongvsGodzilla on Thu, 09/14/2023 - 09:12 pm

Hey AZPhil, thanks again for keeping us informed. Who is Juan Bello? They seem to throw him alot since coming back from whatever kept him out 

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sat, 09/16/2023 - 09:02 pm

KKvG: Juan Bello was one of about five or six pitchers at the Cubs Dominican Academy in 2022 who were considered to be the Cubs best DSL pitching prospects. The others were Kevin Valdez, Freilyn Silverio, Eligio Paredes, and Carlos Garcia (who was on the Restricted List in 2022)    

K. Valdez (the Cubs #1 DSL prospect in 2022) got moved up to the ACL Cubs during the 2022 season, and Bello, Silverio, Paredes, and C. Garcia were invited to post-2022 AZ Instructs  

All of them were invited to Minor League Camp this past March, but Bello went down with an injury just before the start of Extended Spring Training and was out of action April through July. 

Bello made three or four appearances in the ACL in August, but he is still rounding into game shape. He has a plus curve and (with the exception of one horrendous ACL outing in August when he walked all four batters he faced) he throws strikes, maybe almost too many strikes.  

BTW, the Cubs #1 DSL pitching prospect this year was Alfredo Romero, and just like with Kevin Valdez in 2022, A. Romero got moved up to the ACL during the 2023 season. He looks REALLY good (long arms & long legs, very athletic on the mound, features a FB & SL combo, and he is working on a CH).  

[ ]

Submitted by KingKongvsGodzilla on Sat, 09/16/2023 - 09:54 pm

Hell yeah, thanks. Hopefully Silverio can get over taking some lumps at 18 and walking out healthy (unless he didn’t)

BTW you were first on Michael Arias, no? He’s one of the realer ones this year and you were pretty excited. Marino Santy too, def could only have heard of 96 with a curve, some chutzpah, from you

You wouldn’t happen to know what’s up with Richard Gallardo? I assume he’s in Arizona rn

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Sun, 09/17/2023 - 09:55 am

KKvG: I was at the backfields in March 2022 when Michael Arias, Marino Santy, Joel Sierra, and Kenyi Perez threw their first stateside "live" BP. Santy and K. Perez threw on Field # 3 and Arias and Sierra threw on Field # 4. They were considered to be the Cubs' top four DSL pitching prospects in 2021 and they were the only four called up from the DSL for Minor League Camp (pre-Extended Spring Ttaining) in 2022. 

I was standing with one of the Cubs minor league guys watching the four pitchers throw and he told me to watch Arias in particular because he was a converted shortstop with athleticism and a fluid delivery who was hitting 100 MPH with his FB at the Dominican Academy, and if he could develop a reliable secondary pitch (easier said than done, of course) he could move fast.  

Once Extended Spring Training started Arias was clearly the Cubs #1 pitching prospect there and I reported that here at TCR. All four of the pitchers were given priority slots in EXST games as the Cubs tried to marry their side work with game outings. Sierra was hitting 100 MPH with his FB but with no secondary pitch by the end of EXST, but then he got hurt and was shut down and really hasn't pitched for about a year & a half now.

So it took a while, but Arias finally did develop a usable secondary pitch, and Santy improved his command enough to where both were in the Myrtle Beach starting rotation in 2023. In fact, Arias has already moved up to South Bend, and is now considered to be one of the Cubs Top 10 pitching prospects by the Cubs themselves. 

So yes, you did read about Arias here first.     

BTW, even though he is only 21 and just reached Hi-A in June, Arias is a possible Rule 5 Draft pick if he is not added to the Cubs MLB 40-man roster in November, just because of his extremely high ceiling.

And if Arias is added to the 40 in November he would get four minor league options (just like Kevin Alcantara when he was added to the 40 last November), so the Cubs would not need to rush him. 

Recent comments

  • crunch (view)

    i know it's still very early, but i'd like to go into the xmas-to-newyears part of the off-season with something more than...*checks list*...patrick wisdom avoids arbitration with a 1-year deal

    also, steven brault retired and was spotted at the winter meetings with a demo reel and making contacts trying to break into broadcasting (not a joke).  unless he's more optimistic than talented (we already know he can sing) he should make it one day because he seems to be very serious about it.

  • Cubster (view)

    I blame Jason Schmidt’s 3/44

  • Craig A. (view)

    Was all that stuff with the Blue Jays just to squeeze an extra $10 million/yr out of the Dodgers?  It's more than enough to cover his California income taxes!

  • crunch (view)

    unless he pitches into his late-30 that is gonna sting.  a 70m DH...ow.

    it's great to take care of 2 roster spots in 1 player, and i'm sure the team will cut into the pay with the amount of merch/etc he can sell just by being attached to the team....but yeah, i'm not mad the cubs didn't go that extreme.

  • WebAdmin (view)

    Shohei Ohtani to join Dodgers according to ESPN. 10 years for $700 m

  • Cubster (view)

    I'm getting the feeling that Todd Walker might be a Shaw comp. A valuable hit first player but limited albeit not awful on defense. Hopefully, he has more upside. Not a bad floor if Steve Garvey is his ceiling.

  • Wrigley Rat (view)

    AZ Phil - If that's the level of return, I would want NO part of that trade to Cleveland for Clase and Bieber. I have some faith that the Cubs have a strong plan for which prospects they will keep (even if they dangle them in trade talks) and which they will move, because they have plenty of solid prospects they can trade but they shouldn't be trading any of the ones they hope will be future core players. Some guys are redundant, so I hope they choose the right players to keep and the right players to move. It's always important for a team to know its own minor league players better than scouts from other teams (obviously), but I don't think that's always been the case for the Cubs and many other clubs. 

    Cubster - I watched an interview with Carter Hawkins a couple days ago where he said that although Morel hasn't gotten into any Dominican games at 1B, the Cubs did send coaches down with Morel to work on first base skills during practice. So he is developing those skills, whether the Cubs end up using him there or not will probably be dependent on a lot of factors including how those coaches think he looks at the position while training. 

  • tim815 (view)

    He could still play SS at Double-A, but Vazquez, Hoerner, and Swanson are much better defensively, arm strength or not. I'd be good leaving Shaw at SS with McGeary and Ballesteros around, but by the first of June (?), 1B might make sense in DM.

  • crunch (view)

    i have no reason to see a problem, it just seems like it's his most obvious reason to give pause on him at 1st.

    the cubs situation dictates 2nd/SS isn't an option.  his arm dictates 3rd isn't an option.  1st or CF seems to be his best path and he's only played CF in summer ball back in highschool/college...and of course PCA is a better + closer to the bigs CF.

    it's a lot safer to say he's made for 1st than it is he's made for 3rd.  even as a SS his arm is weak, and it's not like his glove is so great he needs to stay in the middle-IF.

  • Arizona Phil (view)

    CRUNCH: Steve Garvey (one of Shaw's comps as a hitter) was a 5'10 right-handed throwing first-baseman with a rag arm. Jeff Bagwell (another Shaw comp) was a 6'0 right-handed throwing first-baseman with a rag arm. Carlos Santana (who played 1B for Counsell in Milwaukee last season and is an above-average defensive first-baseman) is 5'11. It's not like Shaw is 5'7 or 5'8. I don't really see the problem. 

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