Cubs top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong was one of the players cut from the spring training roster Friday.
John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. — The Cubs announced their first round of major-league spring training camp cuts on Friday, including top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong.
“I don’t think he’s surprised, but I think he’s disappointed,” manager Craig Counsell said.
Friday’s cuts were prospect-centered, as the Cubs whittled their spring training roster from 62 players to 50. Many were with the major-league team to learn rather than compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster, and Counsell made that clear to them from the start.
Crow-Armstrong, however, was in a unique situation. Before the Cubs signed center fielder Cody Bellinger to a three-year, $80 million contract in late February, he was in the running to make the team out of camp. Now, he’ll be looking to force the team’s hand with his performance in Triple-A.
“Pete’s 21 years old,” Counsell said. “He needs to just play baseball and learn from his experiences playing baseball. The younger you are, the more you just have not experienced yet. And so just do that, and he’s going to get better quickly.”
The Cubs optioned four players to Triple-A Iowa: Crow-Armstrong, outfielder Brennen Davis, right-handed pitcher Ben Brown and shortstop Luis Vázquez.
They optioned three players to Double-A Tennessee: pitchers Michael Arias and Porter Hodge, and outfielder Kevin Alcántara.
The team assigned five non-roster invitees to minor-league camp: infielder Matt Shaw, outfielder Owen Caissie, pitchers Ethan Roberts and Riley Thompson, and catcher Pablo Aliendo.
Camp cuts are only going to get more difficult moving forward. As Counsell and team president Jed Hoyer have some of those tough conversations toward the end of spring training and through the season, their dynamic will evolve. But so far, it’s clear that Counsell approaches roster questions from a front office-like perspective.
“He’s so on top of every detail, thinking about different ways to use the roster,” Hoyer said. “… He’s just constantly thinking multiple steps ahead: how is this move going to affect this series, extra off days, these matchups?”