The Cubs and first baseman Tyler Austin have agreed to a one-year major league deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. He’ll make $1.25MM plus incentives, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Austin has spent the past six seasons playing in Japan. The Cubs have multiple 40-man vacancies and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Austin, now 34, played in the big leagues from 2016 to 2019. He suited up for the Yankees, Twins, Giants and Brewers without being able to cement himself as a big league regular. He hit 33 home runs in 583 plate appearances over four seasons but also struck out at a 36.9% clip.
Milwaukee passed him through waivers in November of 2019. He elected free agency and signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Since then, he has been mashing pretty consistently for that club, when healthy. He only played 65 games in 2020 but hit 20 home runs in his 269 plate appearances. In 2021, he got that up to 28 home runs over 107 games and 439 plate appearances.
Then came an injury spell, as he only played 60 games total over the 2022 and 2023 seasons due to various ailments. He underwent shoulder surgery in September of 2023, according to Sanspo Sports, but was back in form in 2024. He hit another 25 home runs last year in 445 plate appearances. He struck out 19.8% of the time while drawing walks at a 10.1% clip. His .316/.382/.601 line translated to a 197 wRC+, indicating he was 97% better than the average NPB hitter.
This year, he only got into 65 games. According to Yahoo Japan, he dealt with pain in his right knee. The BayStars decided not to bring him back for 2026. However, he did still hit well when on the field. He launched 11 home runs in just 246 plate appearances, with an 18.3% strikeout rate and 10.6% walk rate. His .269/.350/.484 line may look only decent at first blush but the NPB has had some issues with dead balls lately, so that line actually translated to a big 147 wRC+.
The Cubs are clearly intrigued by the big offensive numbers. It’s a bit of a risky pick-up, in the sense that Austin hasn’t played in the majors since 2019 and has had some health issues. But $1.25MM is barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. The Cubs are also giving up a roster spot but they came into today with a 40-man count of 33, so it’s not as though they have a squeeze at the moment.
Chicago already has a first baseman in Michael Busch but he is a lefty swinger who needs a platoon partner. He’s coming off a huge 34-homer season with a .261/.343/.523 line and 140 wRC+. However, he slashed just .207/.274/.368 against southpaws for an 81 wRC+.
The Cubs also have some lefty bats in their designated hitter mix. Seiya Suzuki was the primary DH in 2025 but he might take over right field with the departure of Kyle Tucker. The Cubs would then have guys like Moisés Ballesteros and Owen Caissie, both lefties, battling for DH time.
Last year, the Cubs gave 40-year-old Justin Turner $6MM to be their righty-swinging first base/DH type. He did his job with the platoon advantage, hitting .276/.330/.429, but hit just .141/.232/.155 otherwise. That led to a combined .219/.288/.314 line and 71 wRC+ for the year.
Presumably, the Cubs are hoping that Austin can be a younger, cheaper and more successful version of their Turner signing. It may not work out but they are barely paying him over the league minimum, as mentioned, so it’s not much of a risk financially. If he can produce anything like his NPB stats, he’ll be a bargain.
Photo courtesy of Michael McLoone, Imagn Images
Way to replace Tucker Jed
Not the player from Japan we were hoping for.
Thanks for playing, but this guy replaces Justin Turner
Do you actually believe that the Cubs think he is a Tucker replacement? C’mon.
Will be Caissie, Alcantara and Ballestroes soaking those PA’s
Justin Turner had a salary of six million dollars last season.
The Six Million Dollar Man was a character with the last name Austin played by an actor with the last name Majors.
Could Tyler Austin be the first bionic MLB player? We have the technology to make him stronger, faster…
Major League deal?
Penny-pinching mothereffer
League changing if it alerted me on the espn app..! lol
THE HOT STOVE BOILING
Feels like we’ve had a lot of ex-NPB and KBO guys signing MLB deals so far this offseason.
good for austin, and good for ponce, griffin, weiss, etc. i was just talking about how the pipeline of players going to and from asia to america to play baseball is stronger than ever, and clearly to everybody’s benefit.
Justin Turner’s replacement
This made me smile. I always loved Tyler Austin when he was a member of the Yankees (fun fact – he made his debut on the same day as Aaron Judge – who he went back to back with in HRs in their first ABs). Wishing him the best – and happy to see him back in the MLB!
His dad, on the other hand, is a jackass.
Stone Cold Steve Austin is his father? Always liked him. Never came off as a jackass.
They just showed that game on MLB Network a few days ago
“MLB,” not “the MLB.” There is no such thing as “the MLB.”
And, if you like this signing, you aren’t a Cubs fan.
Ridiculous take.
Where can we get his stats from there?
It links to Baseball Reference, and you can click “show non-major” there
Google Tyler Austin NPB stats and you will get a link for baseball reference minors and Japan stats for him
Now there’s a name that is not on my Bingo card!
Yet–already inched up the easy to DFA when that time comes around.
Holy cow, this was a pull out of a scouting report that I didn’t know existed.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. I remember being excited when the Twins brought him back for Lance Lynn about 8 years back.
He’s always had some pop in his bat. Hope he can have success in Wrigleyville.
I was very upset about that trade. I thought if this kid had the consistent ABs he’d be a solid ball player
Seems like another Hoyer wasted roster spot and cash. I am sure they will be 1.25 million short of signing a player of signifigance
@Led
if they ever tell you they were close to signing someone but couldn’t muster up an additional $1.25 mil them they’re lying to you.
If he can stay healthy, a big if, Austin would likely be useful to the Cubbies as a power hitting right-side hitting platoon player.
Rather have DJ LeMahieu as he can move to 3B and 2B.
About 30M left to spend. I expect a hard push on Imai now. Pen and bench are pretty much set.
DJLM can barely move at all let alone at 3b or 2b
Busch doesn’t need to be platooned when there’s a lefty on the mound.
His career splits say it wouldn’t hurt ….
I love this. Color me a big fan of Austin. Huge power, high strikeout but hopefully the years in Japan improved that. Has the ability to play the OF as well.
1B-only since ’23, what is he, the weak side of a 1st-base platoon? This is a low-risk depth piece with replacement-level floor at minimal cost.
If he brings back any of the upside he showed in Asia, this will be a signing unhappy fans might actually give the Cubs props for later.
People miss that, but he has plenty of games played in MLB at corner OF.
Wish him well but seems like Jed could have gotten a similar AAAA player as a NRI to spring training instead of a guaranteed MLB contract and using a 40 man spot.
The Cubs’ 40 man stands at what, 34, 35?
So don’t worry, there’s more slop to come.
What’s his vs LHP splits from Japan? Busch can’t hit lefties so gotta have someone who can hit them on those days.
Until this minor league signing, non-roster invitee Scott Kingery was currently representing the biggest upgrade on the bench, that has to change, and fast. The Cubs were fortunate the starting infielders were all relatively healthy. The bench last season was pretty poor and overall unreliable for any offense.
They have scads of room on the 40 man. Just because it’s a major league contract, he’s not guaranteed at all to make 25 man. That walk rate is pretty impressive though for a power hitter .
I would think if they guaranteed him 1.25M then he’s definitely breaking camp with the team. How long he lasts is up to him
They should’ve just kept Matt Mervis.