UPDATE: I made a mistake. The Padres are, indeed, calling up the lefty Adrian Morejon to make his debut, but it will be solely as the team’s opener, which I was not aware of. Cal Quantrill, the righty, will still get the majority of the innings. Regular post follows.
The lineup was announced a bit later than usual today, which, along with some of the less-impressive play we’ve seen from some members of the Cubs bench lately, made me think a roster move was on the way.
But as far as I can tell there’s nothing in the works … on the Cubs side. The Padres, however, have promoted one of their top prospects, Adrian Morejon, to make his debut at Wrigley Field with a sweep on the line.
Chicago Cubs Lineup:Â
- Kyle Schwarber, LF
- Javy Baez, SS
- Kris Bryant, 3B
- Anthony Rizzo, 1B
- Robel Garcia, 2B
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Albert Almora Jr., CF
- Martin Maldonado, C
- Kyle Hendricks, P
Willson Contreras’ absence notwithstanding, this is a much more familiar look for the Cubs lineup than what we’ve seen in the past few days.
For one, Kyle Schwarber is back in left field and atop the lineup after three straight days on the bench (following three straight games with home runs). For another, Kris Bryant is back at third base, batting third. Albert Almora Jr. is still in center field, but he drops down in the batting order. And Robel Garcia returns to a more familiar second base, batting fifth.
All of that aside, the Padres have made a pitching change on us. Instead of the righty, Cal Quantrill, as originally scheduled, the Cubs will be facing their third straight left-hander: rookie and top-50 overall prospect Adrian Morejon. See update above. The Padres will go Morejon for an inning and then Quantrill for as long as he can go.
Morejon has not been killing it in his first go-around at Double-A this season (4.25 ERA, 3.68 FIP), but he does get a ton of ground balls (50.6%) and can strike a lot of batters out (28.6%). Moreover, the Cubs have struggled against both left-handers and rookies making their debuts in the recent past, so … we’ll see how this goes today. Win and you get a sweep. Lose, and, well, let’s just hope they win.
As usual, we’ll have your full Pre-Gamin’ post closer to game time (1:20 CT).