Luke Little throws an inning during a Spring Training game at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, AZ. 02-24-2024. He was notified Sunday that he’d made the 2024 Opening Day roster.
John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. – Cubs manager Craig Counsell wasn’t waiting in the dugout to give rookie left-hander Luke Little a customary handshake when he came off the field Sunday. And after talking with the pitching coaches about his one-hit inning against the Mariners, Little was told Counsell wanted to see him.
“I was like, ‘This is either going to be good or bad,’” Little recounted Monday. “I was hoping it was going to be good, because it’s during a game.”
It was indeed. The 6-foot-8, hard-throwing 23-year-old had made the Opening Day roster, the first nod of his career.
“It’s good-sized smile,” Counsell said. “I mean, good-sized man, good-sized smile”.
The Cubs rounded out their Opening Day roster with a handful of bench and bullpen, entering a pair of spring training exhibition games against the Cardinals this week with their group of 26 essentially set.
The Cubs are optioning outfielder Alexander Canario and right-hander Hayden Wesneski to Triple-A to begin the season, Counsell said Monday. Little and side-armer José Cuas claimed the last two bullpen spots. Utility man Miles Mastrobuoni and third baseman Nick Madrigal seized the final bench spots.
“Luke had a really good spring,” Counsell said. “And really, I think as much as any reliever on our team, any pitcher in the spring, showed uncomfortableness from hitters. Luke is young, and Luke is inexperienced, but when you see that from major-league hitters, we all take note of it.”
Wesneski is set to stretch out to a starter’s workload in Triple-A, but when he’s recalled at some point this season, it could be in either role, as a starter or reliever.
“He’s disappointed,” Counsell said. “And that’s understandable, and rightfully so. He wants to pitch good, and he wants to be a major-leaguer, and he’s had success in the big leagues. And you get delivered some bad news, but you can’t stop that goal of continuing to try to get better.”
Madrigal, after a strained hamstring sidelined him for almost three weeks, avoided an IL stint. He returned to game action Sunday.
“When we were down to figuring out that whole decision, it’s just like, there’s a role for Nick to play on the team,” Counsell said. “And I was struggling finding at-bats for Canario, just how we’re situated right now.”
Madrigal is a contact hitter. Whereas, with Garrett Cooper, another big right-handed hitter, already on the team, there would be fewer opportunities to get Canario in the lineup or pinch-hit opportunities.
“He showed me he can be a good major-league player,” Counsell said of Canario. “He’s a very prepared kid. I love that about him. For 23 years old, he is on game situations, base running, just tough at-bats, prepared for his at bats. There was a lot of good out of what he did this spring.”
Mastrobuoni, who can play pretty much any position but first base, catcher and pitcher, gives the Cubs depth all over the field.
“The safety of the positional versatility is really nice to have,” Counsell said. “It lets you be more aggressive at points of the game with other kinds of decisions because he can really, if you get in a bind, kind of do anything.”
The roster is bound to fluctuate throughout the year, especially on the pitching side. But a spot on the Opening Day roster also means taking part in the ceremony and tradition of Opening Day.
“It feels like we’re all ready to go north,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “That’s a good feeling. Sometimes you just want it to continue while you get healthy. And it feels like we’re in a good place, and it’s time to sort of start the marathon.”
The Cubs don’t yet have to submit their Opening Day roster. But barring injury or waiver claim, this should be the active roster to begin the 2024 season:
Infielders (7)
1B Michael Busch
2B Nico Hoerner
SS Dansby Swanson
3B Christopher Morel
1B Garrett Cooper
UTL Miles Mastrobuoni
3B Nick Madrigal
Outfielders (4)
LF Ian Happ
CF Cody Bellinger
RF Seiya Suzuki
OF Mike Tauchman
Catchers (2)
C Yan Gomes
C Miguel Amaya
Rotation (5)
LHP Justin Steele
RHP Kyle Hendricks
LHP Jordan Wicks
LHP Shota Imanaga
RHP Javier Assad
Bullpen (8)
RHP Adbert Alzolay
RHP Mark Leiter Jr.
RHP Julian Merryweather
RHP Héctor Neris
RHP Yency Almonte
LHP Drew Smyly
RHP José Cuas
LHP Luke Little
Injured list (3)
RHP Caleb Kilian (strained right shoulder), 60-day
RHP Jameson Taillon (back), 15-day
1B/3B Patrick Wisdom (back), 10-day