With just under two weeks until the 2024 Major League Baseball season gets underway for all teams, organizations are starting to trim their roster to get ready for Opening Day.
That's what the Chicago Cubs continue to do.
Their first set of cuts came with many surprises.
Pete Crow-Armstrong, their No. 1 overall prospect, is going to start his year out in the minors after it looked like he was going to be a prominent part of center field.
Other Cubs top prospects were also cut early after it seemed like they might have a shot to own a bench role.
Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation revealed the third set of cuts that Chicago did.
"First baseman Matt Mervis, infielder Chase Strumpf, catcher Bryce Windham, righty Cam Sanders, and righty Keegan Thompson were all sent out. All are expected to open the season at Triple-A Iowa," he reported.
The headliner out of this group is Matt Mervis.
After not being selected in the shortened 2020 MLB Draft, he signed with the Cubs and has quickly vaulted up their pipeline, making it to Triple-A last season before being called up to the bigs.
Unfortunately, the 25-year-old struggled in his 27-game stint with a slash line of .167/.242/.289, three home runs and 11 RBI. He also struck out more times (32) than he had hits (15).
Mervis was seen as the potential first baseman of Chicago's future, but a trade for Michael Busch, signing Dominic Smith and Garrett Cooper, and potentially using Patrick Wisdom there has made his situation a bit murky.
Now, it's clear that he'll have to earn his way into another opportunity at the Major League level by starting out in the minors once again.
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