Iowa Cubs Announce 2024 Opening Day Roster
March 29, 2024 - International League (IL)
Iowa Cubs News Release
DES MOINES - The Iowa Cubs, in conjunction with the Chicago Cubs, today announced their 2024 Opening Day roster. The active roster features 14 players with major league service time and 18 players who have past suited up for Iowa.
The roster also features seven players on the Cubs' Top 30 Prospects List according to MLB.com, including OF Pete Crow-Armstrong (No. 1), OF Owen Caissie (No. 3), RHP Ben Brown (No. 11), OF Alexander Canario (No. 12), INF Matt Mervis (No. 15), INF BJ Murray Jr. (No. 18) and INF Luis Vázquez (No. 20).
The I-Cubs have a trio of young outfielders to begin the season in Crow-Armstrong, Caissie and Canario. All three players are 23 or younger, with Canario being 23, Crow-Armstrong, 22 and Caissie, 21. Crow-Armstrong batted .283 in 107 games between Double-A Tennessee and Iowa and was one of eight minor league players to have at least 20 home runs and 35 stolen bases last season. Canario hit .273 in 53 games across three levels while Caissie batted .289 with 22 home runs in 120 games with Tennessee. Darius Hill, who played in 90 games with the I-Cubs last year, rounds out the outfield.
Mervis and Vázquez headline the group of infielders for Iowa. Mervis, who has played in parts of three seasons with the I-Cubs, batted .282 and finished second on the team with 22 home runs and 78 RBI. Vázquez began 2023 with Tennessee before he hit .257 in 66 games with Iowa. Rounding out the infield will be David Bote, Murray Jr., Jake Slaughter and Chase Strumpf.
Among the 15 pitchers on the roster, Brown returns for his second season with the I-Cubs. The right-hander led the team last year with 100 strikeouts in 72.2 innings and his four wins ranked fourth. Reliever Cam Sanders will pitch in his third season with Iowa as he went 7-2 in a career-high 51 appearances last season.
The rest of the pitching staff features five left-handers, including Edwin Escobar, Richard Lovelady, Riley Martin, Thomas Pannone and Brad Wieck along with right-handers Colten Brewer, Chris Clarke, Sam McWilliams, Daniel Palencia, Walker Powell, Keegan Thompson, Riley Thompson and Hayden Wesneski.
Catching for the I-Cubs will be Curt Casali, Joe Hudson and Bryce Windham.
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