Cubs Spring Training Report: Risers and Fallers Before Opening Day

Opening Day is two weeks away, and the Cubs are still scattered across the globe. Twelve players are representing their countries in the World Baseball Classic while the rest of the roster works through the Cactus League schedule at Sloan Park in Mesa. Spring training doesn't tell you everything — and Cubs fans know better than most not to over-read a March sample — but some storylines have taken shape. Here's a quick stock report before the team packs up and heads back to Wrigley.

📈 Stock Up

Alex Bregman, 3B

The Cubs' $175 million man has looked every bit worth the investment since reporting to Mesa. Bregman hit .455 (5-for-11) with a home run and two doubles in his first five Cactus League games before departing for WBC duty with Team USA in Houston. Once there, he was solid: through his first three pool-play appearances, he posted a .467 on-base percentage with three RBIs as the Americans went 3-0, before sitting out the stunning pool-play loss to Italy.

The numbers are good. What they don't capture is the effect Bregman has had in the clubhouse, particularly on Pete Crow-Armstrong. He told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that he's convinced PCA is going to "have the best year of his career," and he's been working with the 23-year-old on his approach at the plate. PCA himself has been candid about soaking up every bit of that mentorship, calling Bregman's approach to hitting "nerdy but never overcomplicated."

For $175 million, you're buying the bat and the glove. The leadership dividend is the bonus.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, CF

If Cubs fans needed a reminder of what PCA looks like when he's locked in, Tuesday night in Houston provided it — even if the result was a debacle. In Team USA's stunning 8-6 pool-play loss to Italy, Crow-Armstrong was one of the only Americans who showed up, hitting two home runs and driving in four runs. His teammates who did start couldn't get it done; the starters who were rested — Bregman, Harper, Turang, Raleigh — were watching from the dugout while DeRosa's lineup miscalculation played out in real time. PCA wasn't part of the problem. Through WBC pool play, he's hitting .300 for Team USA and is tied with Aaron Judge for the team lead in homers. Team USA did eventually advance after Italy beat Mexico on Wednesday, but the conversation around the tournament remains DeRosa's blunder. PCA's performance got lost in it.

The context matters. PCA had a legitimate MVP-caliber first half in 2025 — he finished with 30 home runs, 30 steals, a Gold Glove, an All-Star appearance, and 6.0 bWAR, joining Sammy Sosa as the only Cubs to ever reach the 30-30 mark. Then came the second half: a .643 OPS and just six home runs after the break raised real questions about whether opposing pitchers had made adjustments he couldn't answer. Extension talks have been ongoing, but nothing has been finalized, and that fade kept the Cubs from committing long-term.

The WBC sample is small, and Italy is not the Brewers' bullpen. But the raw ability has never been in question — it's the consistency that needs answering. Two oppo-field bombs and a clean approach at the plate in a high-leverage international game is exactly the kind of thing you want to see from a player trying to prove the second half was a blip and not a pattern. Opening Day at Wrigley can't come fast enough.

Moises Ballesteros, C/DH

With Miguel Amaya off playing for Panama in the WBC, the 21-year-old Ballesteros has been behind the plate every day in Mesa — and he's made the most of the extra work. He's hitting .357/.400/.429 (5-for-14) with a double and six RBI this spring while also drawing early praise for his command of the new automated ball-strike challenge system.

His role entering 2026 was already set: DH against right-handers, occasional catching duties behind Amaya. But a confident spring from Ballesteros matters because this offense has a lot riding on how quickly he develops. He's a rare talent, and it's good to see him look the part in Cactus League action.

👀 Still Watching: Shota Imanaga, SP

Imanaga doesn't fit cleanly into either category right now, and anyone telling you otherwise is picking a lane for convenience. The honest answer is that it's genuinely too early to know what you have — and more importantly, the Cubs aren't even asking him to give you an answer yet.

The encouraging part is real: his fastball velocity is back up to 92–93 mph this spring, touching 95.1 mph in his most recent start against the A's on March 7. That's a significant jump from the 90.8 mph average he posted during the 2025 regular season, and it backs up the Cubs' offseason theory that his struggles — the 6.51 ERA in September, the 8.10 ERA in two playoff starts, the benching before Game 5 of the NLDS — were mechanical, tied directly to the hamstring injury he suffered in May. Velocity is up means the delivery work is showing up on the radar gun. That matters.

The concerning part is also real: Imanaga has allowed four home runs in 8.1 Cactus League innings, including three in a 2.2-inning outing against the White Sox. The HR vulnerability was the defining flaw of his 2025 season, and it hasn't gone away. Bleed Cubbie Blue's statistical breakdown noted the three White Sox HRs weren't all belt-high mistakes — one came on a splitter at the bottom of the zone, which suggests the issue may not be as simple as location.

The context that matters most: the Cubs have explicitly framed Imanaga's spring as a process-focused buildup — health, delivery mechanics, building feel — not results-driven. He skipped the WBC specifically to stay in Mesa and work. That framing is either reassuring or a convenient excuse, depending on how April goes. For now, file him under "wait and see." The Cubs need him to be something close to his 2024 self for this rotation to hold up deep into October. The spring hasn't answered that question. It's just kept the hope alive.

📉 Stock Down

Porter Hodge, RP

There isn't a bigger spring disappointment on the North Side than Hodge, who entered camp as one of the Cubs' most important bounce-back stories. After a standout rookie season, Hodge battled injuries and inconsistency throughout 2025 — but the organization was optimistic. He'd looked sharp in live BP and bullpen sessions early in camp, generating genuine buzz before Cactus League games began.

That optimism evaporated fast. Across three spring outings, Hodge walked seven batters and allowed seven runs in just two innings of work. Then the news got worse: he hasn't thrown since February 27, and the Cubs announced he'll start the 2026 season on the injured list with a flexor tendon strain. He's been shut down from throwing, faces a re-evaluation in a few weeks, and won't begin throwing progressions until late March at the earliest.

Flexor tendon injuries carry an ugly asterisk — they can be a precursor to Tommy John surgery, though manager Craig Counsell has said this isn't expected to be a long-term issue. Even taking Counsell at his word, Hodge won't be an early-season factor for a bullpen that already lost Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz in free agency this winter.

Jordan Wicks, SP/RP

Wicks is also heading to the Opening Day injured list, this time with radial nerve irritation in his left arm. Counsell has said it isn't a long-term concern, and there's depth behind him — the Cubs can run out Colin Rea, Javier Assad, or Ben Brown if the rotation needs a bridge. But Wicks was a former first-round pick who many hoped would finally carve out a consistent role in 2026. Instead, he'll be watching April from the IL.

The Hodge and Wicks news together is the Cubs' most significant spring cloud. The rotation depth is good enough to absorb it, but the bullpen — always a potential weakness this year — is thinner now than anyone in Chicago would like. He is scheduled to throw from the Mound next week, and we'll have a better sense of the severity and timeline after that. For now, it's a significant concern for a team that needs as much pitching help as it can get.

Fourteen days to Opening Day. The Cubs have real reasons for optimism and a couple of legitimate concerns to manage. That's about as normal a spring as you can ask for.