The Cubs will say hit to another old friend today, when they welcome the Kansas City Royals to Sloan Park for their 13th game of the Spring.
Peek down at the Royals lineup and you’ll see our old pal Jorge Soler penciled into the lineup, batting cleanup and patrolling right field. Soler has *still* not been able to stay healthy for very long, but when he was out there last season, he was quietly killing it: .265/.354/.466 (123 wRC+). His strikeout rate even dropped down until an acceptable range and he was walking nearly 11% of the time. If he could just figure out how to stay on the field, he’d probably be a monster at the plate over the course of a full year (42.9% hard-hit rate last season).
As for the Cubs, today’s lineup features Albert Almora at the top and in center field, followed by David Bote getting into the rotation at third base. Javy Baez and Daniel Descalso are your double-play combo up the middle – I think we might be saying that quite a bit this year – and Victor Caratini gets another start behind the plate.
Johnny Field – the guy with a name so perfect for baseball, it sounds completely made up (galaxy brain: all names are made up) – is getting yet another start in the outfield this afternoon. I don’t think he’s quite a threat to make the team out of Spring Training, but Joe Maddon sure has been giving him plenty of looks.
Jose Quintana is toeing the rubber for the Cubs today and this game kicks off at 2:05. Go Cubs.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (7-5) vs. Kansas City Royals (7-4) – Wednesday, March 6th at 2:05 CT, Audio on MLB.com
Starting Pitchers
Angels: (R): Heath Fillmyer
versus
Cubs: (L): Jose Quintana
Kansas City Royals:
- Jecksson Flores, 2B
- Chris Owings, SS
- Hunter Dozier, 3B
- Jorge Soler, RF
- Frank Schwindel, 1B
- Bubba Starling, DH
- Jorge Bonifacio, LF
- Meibrys Viloria, LF
- Billy Hamilton, CF
Chicago Cubs:
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- David Bote, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Javy Baez, SS
- Victor Caratini, C
- Daniel Descalso, 2B
- Johnny Field, LF
- Evan Marzilli, RF
- Ian Rice, DH