I-Cubs Announce Official Opening Day Roster
March 31, 2023 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release
DES MOINES, IA - The 2023 Iowa Cubs active roster is made up of 15 pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and five outfielders. Iowa opens the season at Principal Park with a three-game series against the Columbus Clippers.
The I-Cubs have a trio of young players bolstering the roster to start the season in Brennen Davis, Christopher Morel and Nelson Velazquez. All three players are under 25-years-old with Velazquez being 24 and Davis and Morel being 23. After an injury plagued 2022 season, Davis looks to return to form and comes into 2023 ranked as the Cubs' No. 3 prospect and the No. 92 prospect in all of baseball according to _MLB.com. _Both Morel and Velazquez made their big-league debuts last season and are ready to make further strides in their games. Morel began 2022 with Tennessee, hitting .306 with five doubles and seven home runs in 28 games and was called up to Chicago on May 17, where he remained for the rest of the season, and hit .235 in 113 games. Velazquez split time between Tennessee, Iowa and Chicago in 2022 and tallied a batting average of .205 over the final 77 games for Chicago.
Looking at the infield, Matt Mervis returns to Iowa from his breakout season in 2022. Mervis was an offensive leader for the I-Cubs hitting .297 over the course of 57 games. His 15 doubles were tied for seventh on the season-long roster while his 15 home runs were good for fourth and his 39 RBI placed him fifth on the season-long roster. The Washington D.C. native also ranked sixth on Iowa's roster with 21 multi-hit games despite playing in just 57 games with the team and was fourth on the team with 12 multi-RBI games. The 24-year-old ended the 2022 season ranked as the No. 21 prospect in Chicago's system by MLB.com, was named the 2022 Buck O'Neil Cubs Minor League Player of the Year and opens the 2023 campaign ranked as the Cubs' No. 7 ranked prospect.
Among the 15 pitchers on the roster, Caleb Kilian is back in an I-Cubs uniform and will play an integral part to the starting rotation. The 6-foot-4 right hander led Iowa in innings pitched (106.2), strikeouts (125) and games started (26) in 2022 and tied for fifth in strikeouts and second in games started among all International League pitchers. Kilian did get some big-league experience as well as he made his major league debut on June 4 against the rival St. Louis Cardinals.
Coming out of the bullpen will be a Cubs 12th round draft pick in 2018, Cam Sanders. Sanders made his Triple-A debut in 2022 on May 14 against Omaha and showed his ability to strike opposing batters out. In 28 of his 29 games with Iowa he struck out at least one batter including a season-high nine batters in his debut on May 14.
The rest of the pitching staff will feature four lefties in Ryan Borucki, Roenis Elias, Anthony Kay and Brendon Little along with eight right-handers in Nick Burdi, Jeremiah Estrada, Nick Neidert, Vinny Nittoli, Manuel Rodriguez, Adrian Sampson, Riley Thompson and Rowan Wick. Borucki, Burdi, Elias, Kay, Neidert, Nittoli, and Thompson will all don an I-Cubs jersey for the first time this season. Meanwhile, Estrada, Little, Rodriguez, Sampson and Wick have all logged time in Iowa previously.
Behind the dish the I-Cubs will feature Dom Nunez and Bryce Windham. The pair of catchers are making their first appearances with Iowa. Rounding out the infield with Morel will be Sergio Alcantara, long-time Cub veteran David Bote, Jake Slaughter and Jared Young.
Roaming the outfield grass with Davis and Velazquez will be Darius Hill, Yonathan Perlaza and Mike Tauchman. Hill is the lone player who has spent time in Iowa and Tauchman makes his return to the States after he played the 2022 season in the Korea Baseball Organization for the Hanwha Eagles.
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