Despite a shaky 9th inning, the Cubs managed to win their second Spring game in a row. The game may as well have been played at the Milford School, as it could be neither seen nor heard (unless you wanted to hear the Padres audio).
Here are some of my thoughts:
- We’ve had a Michael Busch sighting! Still no sign (except for the countless videos of batting and fielding practice) of Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson or Ian Happ. And while it is understandable that we haven’t seen Moises Ballesteros in a game yet, it is odd that neither Tyler Austin nor Kevin Alcantara have gotten any ABs, as I think they both have things to prove if they have hopes of making the opening day roster. Perhaps Craig Counsell is waiting for a left-handed starter to put them in the lineup.
- Speaking of Alcantara, in homage to the old “Shawon-O-Meter”, I think it’s time to start a daily tally of how well the potential 4th outfielders have been doing.
So I present: the 4th-OF-O-Meter:
| Player | PA | HR | R | RBI | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dylan Carlson | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.025 |
| Chas McCormick | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| Justin Dean | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .334 |
| Kevin Alcantara | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Michael Conforto | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
- Gavin Hollowell, you have my attention! 6 hitters faced and 6 strikeouts. Sure, they are all hitters who might be in the minor leagues when the season starts (today it was Clay Dungan, Nick Schnell and Francisco Acuna). But for a guy who was not given much of a shot to make the opening day roster, this should at least give him the chance to face some better hitters as Spring continues.
- Carson Kelly had his first home run of the spring. If they can stay healthy, I think he and Miguel Amaya will make one of the better catcher combos in the majors.
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/831781/video/carson-kelly-s-solo-home-run-x7927 - Old friend, Nick Castellanos had a nice game, going 2-3 with a 2-RBI double in a 10-pitch at bat against Jacob Webb
- BJ Murray has been getting a ton of at bats so far this spring, playing in 4 of the 5 games so far. I’m sure the Cubs must have a reason for getting him so much time. Here was more on Murray from Cubbies Crib earlier this month:
https://cubbiescrib.com/this-forgotten-slugging-prospect-could-make-serious-noise-at-cubs-spring-training-01kg812yng7x - I made a fairly long post about the differences between Ben Brown and Javier Assad, which can be found here:
https://cubsin7.blog/2026/02/24/are-you-an-assad-man-or-a-ben-brown-man/ - It was very nice to see (or more accurately, read) that Shota’s fastball was looking faster:
Cubs in 7 
Leave a comment