The Cubs have designated infielder Sergio Alcantara for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to veteran reliever Mychal Givens, whose previously reported one-year deal has now been formally announced by the team.
Claimed off waivers out of the Tigers organization in Feb. 2021, Alcantara wound up appearing in 89 games with Chicago — most of which came after the team had stripped down the roster with a July fire sale that saw Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo traded (among others). The 25-year-old Alcantara logged 255 plate appearances with the Cubs but managed only a tepid .205/.303/.327 batting line during that stretch — his first extended look at the MLB level. He’d previously had a brief 10-game, 23-plate appearance cup of coffee with Detroit in 2020.
In addition to that lackluster showing in the big leagues, Alcantara owns a pedestrian .261/.340/.317 batting line in 822 plate appearances at the Double-A level. He did hit .305/.447/.451 in a small sample of 103 Triple-A plate appearances in 2021, but that’s an outlier relative to his overall body of work in the minors. Offense, however, has never Alcantara’s calling card anyhow. He’s regarded as a plus defensive player at shortstop who can also handle second base and third base. He’s also walked in 11.1% of his minor league plate appearances against a 17.1% strikeout rate, showing solid bat-to-ball skills and a good knowledge of the strike zone.
An above-average runner with a strong throwing arm and good defensive skills on the whole, Alcantara could potentially be of interest to clubs around the league as they evaluate bench options for the expanded 28-man roster early in the season. He has a minor league option year remaining as well, so he can provide some additional bench flexibility throughout the season. The Cubs will have a week to trade Alcantara or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.
Thought he was out of options. Arizona Phil says so.
2021 was his fourth option year and he was already outrighted last year. So, Sergio can be a free agent if he’s not claimed.
An OPS+ of 70 is unfortunately not going to get it done. I wish him well, it he is almost 26 and the window is closing.
Thanks “Stomp”
Not sure the “good knowledge of the strike zone” comment applies. He struck out in 29% of his 255 MLB plate appearances last year as a 25 year old rookie. That would be fine if he hit 15 homers, but the guy is 151 pounds! It’s a miracle he homered in 2% of his plate appearances!
Sure, but he also walked at an 11.8% clip and chased pitches off the plate at just 23.5% — eight percentage points lower than the league-average 31.5%. He had the 25th-lowest chase rate among the 311 hitters with at least 250 plate appearances last year.
Alcantara just has well below-average contact rates both in and out of the strike zone (when he does chase).
Good points. So he knows the strike zone but he just swings and misses a lot!
Orioles?
As always, we await developments.
Eric Patterson 2.0
He played in 25 Triple A games last year. He crushed
Huh. You’re right. Baseball-Reference isn’t showing his 2021 minor league stats for some reason. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll update.
Yeah pretty weird… I remember him getting called up after posting ridiculous numbers down at AAA last year.
This was an easy call to remove from the roster. With Nico, Madrigal, Simmons, bote and villar he had almost zero chance of seeing the mlb team this year.
Agree. They are already loaded with soft hitting IFs
The White Sox must be pretty boring for you to be posting about the Cubs…
As always…Sucks fans lack of some attention. Nobody cares about the White Sucks. That team should be moved to Las Vegas or else.
We all can’t have Luery Garcia and josh Harrison.
When was your last world series title again?
More than a half-decade ago. HBU?
They also have a couple of veteran AAAA guys on NRIs ready to go to Iowa as emergency callups.
They did him a solid by releasing him now. Maybe another club wll grab him. If not he’s a great aaa depth guy.
Not so sure Bote has a big future either, even though he’s under contract.
I’d imagine he will be around until the contract is over but his last two years have been ugly.
I don’t think even his contract will save him if the Cubs need a roster spot.
Villar was basically signed to do what Bote does, except Villar is much better at SS.
I expect Bote to do the maximum rehab time at AAA and then get traded to a rebuilding team with the Cubs eating everything over the major league minimum.
No he is terrible. The Cubs seem to love him but he hasn’t hit very well and his fielding is poor. He has had a penchant for hitting big homers but even that has been awhile.
What the F*** Cubs!?!
The Cubs are officially o for 2 with Alcantaras (Arismendy and Sergio). I’m guessing the third time (Kevin) will be the charm.
Defensively, the guy can pick it. Just cannot hit. We kept waiting on that in the Tigers organization but never materialized.
The Phillies could use him on their bench as a defensive caddy for Didi.
When Detroit brought him up for a cup of coffee in 2020 it was memorable for him as he hit a HR in his 1st MLB at bat