Cubs outfielder Kevin Alcántara has undergone surgery to repair a sports hernia, the team announced. Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times was the first to report the news.
The Cubs have not offered a clear timeline for Alcántara’s recovery, but the surgery was successful, according to Lee, so there’s no reason to believe this will affect his 2026 campaign. Corey Seager is a prominent recent example of a player who returned from sports hernia surgery. He had a hernia on his left side repaired in late January 2024 and recovered quickly enough to start at shortstop on Opening Day just two months later. The following September, he needed another hernia repair, this time on the right side, and he returned in plenty of time to post a .950 OPS in 18 games in spring training. Barring a setback, Alcántara should still have a relatively normal offseason.
Acquired from the Yankees in the 2021 Anthony Rizzo trade, the 23-year-old Alcántara is one of Chicago’s top prospects. The latest lists from Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have him ranked fifth in the system, while FanGraphs and Keith Law of The Athletic are even higher on his skills, ranking him as the Cubs’ No. 1 and a top-50 prospect in the game. His calling card is huge slugging potential. He hit 26 doubles and 17 home runs across 102 games at Triple-A in 2025, and evaluators who are bullish on his bat think he has even more power to unlock. It’s easy to see why that’s so tantalizing, especially coming from a center fielder with plus speed.
Alcántara has taken a couple of sips of coffee at the big league level in each of the past two Septembers but has yet to establish himself in the major leagues. In truth, he could probably benefit from some more minor league seasoning in 2026; his .273/.356/.470 slash line and 111 wRC+ in 137 career games at Triple-A aren’t quite as impressive as his numbers from the lower levels of the minors. In particular, his 29.6% strikeout rate is concerning. Unfortunately for the Cubs, however, they’ll soon have to make a difficult decision. Alcántara will be out of minor league options next season. Presuming he’s healthy, he’ll need a spot on Chicago’s Opening Day roster next year – unless they trade him first.
I am always a fan of the phrase “successful surgery”. What are they going to say – “we found that we had a couple of extra parts when we were closing up that we didn’t quite know what to do with?”.
“Actually the surgeon left a gauze inside you, and that’s probably why you feel a little squishy.”
Alcantara will be a fourth year option player. He can ride the shuttle back and forth from Iowa, but a spring training breakout would do.
I think Shaw, Ballesteros, Caissie and Alcantara, will all be on the Opening Day roster. Tucker will be gone. The. UBS can then acquire a frontline starter to go with Steele, Horton, Taillon and Rea. Ranger Suarez or Cease? I think Cubs will decline multi year option on Shota. I do not know if Shota will then elect the one year player option or not.
If Shota doesn’t, do the Cubs give him the QO? I think they do.
You left out the guy who was their best SP for most of the year
Yeah, I had Boyd on my list but did not type his name. I have him slotted after Horton and Steele, but ahead of Taillon and Rea. Rea is the guy who goes to the pen if they make a splashy addition.
And Steele won’t be ready for Opening Day. Maybe June. Rea can keep that spot warm.
Agree
Depends on whether Ricketts pays Tucker, I’m inclined to believe he won’t so yes, I agree with you on that. Shota, I’m going to say he stays a Cub.
And/or a trade for a Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Joe Ryan.
Top 100… I think it all depends on if Ricketts will get off his wallet in a big way. If he won’t, I could also see Hoyer using a couple of those guys to acquire Ryan or Gore (with more pieces added)… I don’t know what they do with Shota. His velocity has dropped since his solid year in ’24. Right now he’d be a fifth starter- and that’s if he cuts back on the ridiculous amount of HRs he’s given up… Also.. It wouldn’t break my heart if they moved Happ.
I would hate to see Caissie, Alcantara or Ballesteros moved to acquire a starting pitcher rather than just spending on a free agent, but I do agree with you that it is a real possibility.
Maybe Shota will solve itself. Hemight have had a bad enough end to theseason that Cubs decline to take him multi-year and Shota takes the one-year player option.
I’m not sure I needed to be reminded of the fabulous Rizzo trade….but that’s as a Yankees fan
Rizzo produced well for NY in ’21, at least as well as he did with CHI. 4.5 seasons later and Alacantra hasn’t established himself yet. It was a fair lottery ticket trade. It was the Gallo and Heaney trades that returned absolute zeros that year.
Rizzo provided Ricketts with a cash infusion for a weekend this past September. He even brought Cindy Crawford to the game. That’s all that matters is what can he give to the bottom line.
The Cubs have not seemed particularly sold on Alcantara, really at any point, and I suspect he will be non-tendered or traded this off-season. He really isn’t a candidate for significant playing time, whether they retain Tucker (unlikely) or not.
I remember my first beer, except I didn’t go posting on MLBTR after
He was exhausting and trolling all summer and seems like we are in for a long winter.
Kevin Alcantara non-tendered, Alan53???? It’s the offseason—please, you were wrong all summer long. Take these next five months to give it a rest.
I thought players had 3 option years. Why would he be out of options next season? He’s only seen time the last 2 seasons.
He was added to the 40 man after the 2022 season to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. The first option was used before the start of the 2023 season.
He should be eligible for a fourth year option due to injuries early in his professional career keeping him off active minor league rosters.
It’s not injury that qualifies him for a 4th option year it’s that he has less than 5 years above short season ball (Rookie and development leagues) in his professional career. He may have not been promoted to low A earlier because of injuries but those years don’t count towards the 5 regardless.
I hope this guy is a Cubs staple for years to come, only because I want to root for someone called the Jaguar.
Who’s kidding whom if anybody expects rickets to pay Tucker $4oom plus when the highest this big market franchise gone is half that. Dodgers all the way for Tucker and also parades, smith and wismewski further to comeback and haunt the cubbies now.
As the Astros continue to purge the cubs this time with Nate Robinson, will he also come back to haunt his former team like smith, parsers and wisnewski undoubtedly will after Tucker sings elsewhere and not even close to wat he’s seeking originally!