Cubs Projected Opening-Day Lineup Features Two Rookies
The Chicago Cubs have some of the best young players in baseball in their farm system. It’s possible that two of them make their opening-day lineup.
MLB.com projected the opening-day batting order and starting rotations for every team recently and for the Cubs the site projected two players with a handful of big-league games to their credit will be on the field when the Cubs face the World Series champion Texas Rangers on March 28 in Arlington, Texas.
The first is a name Cubs fans are familiar with. Pete Crow-Armstrong, who played 13 games with the Cubs last season and has been the franchise’s No. 1 prospect for more than a year, would start in center field and bat ninth.
While there is still a chance the Cubs could make a move to sign Cody Bellinger, without him on the roster Crow-Armstrong is the most likely winner of that competition.
The other prospect is Michael Busch, who would start at first base and bat sixth.
Busch was part of the return for pitcher Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope. Busch played second base for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, as he batted .167 with two home runs and seven RBI in 27 games. Like Crow-Armstrong, he hasn’t played enough MLB games to graduate from prospect rankings.
The top four spots in the order look familiar — second baseman Nico Hoerner leads off, followed by shortstop Dansby Swanson, left fielder Ian Happ and right fielder Seiya Suzuki.
With Busch taking over at first, Christopher Morel would bat fifth as the designated hitter. The Cubs want to try him out at first base in spring training but his glove, overall, has been a liability so far in his career.
Patrick Wisdom would bat seventh and play third base, another position where the Cubs have a need for stability, followed by catcher Yan Gomes at eighth.
Justin Steele is projected to start opening day after he finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting last season. Shota Imanaga, the Cubs’ big free-agent signing this offseason, is slotted at the No. 3 spot behind Jameson Taillon.
Kyle Hendricks and Javier Assad round out the projected rotation, though the Cubs have options like Drew Smyly, Hayden Wesneski or Jordan Wicks.
