NEWSLETTER
Jesse Rogers jumped on ESPN1000 this morning to share a pretty big, pretty surprising, but hopefully not-as-concerning-as-it-sounds news: The Chicago Cubs are calling up outfielder Alexander Canario.
Unfortunately, Rogers didn’t have the other half of the coming roster move, so we don’t yet know if someone is hurt. Obviously, given the way the most of outfield (and Mike Tauchman) have performed, you hope it’s nothing serious (yeah, Cody Bellinger is struggling a little, but he’s also by far the best center fielder). Though I’ll note that Canario can play all three outfield spots and is also a theoretical DH type if that ever came up either.
Canario, of course, was promoted for his debut at the end of last season, but got even fewer and more sporadic opportunities than Pete Crow-Armstrong. And while he hasn’t yet cranked up his Triple-A numbers to video-game level yet this season, he was hitting just fine in Iowa: .269/.377/.481 (123 wRC+) with a 13.1% walk rate and 24.6% strikeout rate.
And that’s the other thing I don’t want to lose sight of here: While Canario never quite rose to the ranks of “nationally ranked top prospect,” he was well on his way. And if it weren’t for poorly timed injuries and a nothingburger debut, we’d probably all be a lot more excited about this news. Or that is to say, I think we should be excited. And hopefully it’s about getting the best 13 position players in Chicago and not some big, unknown injury.
