Chicago Cubs: Outfielder John Andreoli will make a valuable bench player

The Chicago Cubs entered training camp with a ton of outfielders on hand. They signed Jason Heyward, brought back Dexter Fowler and added both Matt Murton and Shane Victorino to the mix. But an unexpected outfielder is heating up the competition with a solid spring of his own.

When looking at the depth chart, you can’t help but look over the outfield from left to right. With Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler competing for the starting job out in left field, Fowler and Heyward are locks to start in center and right.

Surely, they’ll switch from time-to-time but who will serve as an emergency replacement if something were to happen? Let’s go ahead and keep our fingers crossed on this one.

Last season, Matt Szczur made several moves between the big league Chicago Cubs and the Triple-A affiliate over in Iowa. If he doesn’t make the major-league roster, he’ll more than likely end up playing the same role in 2016. But there’s a chance he won’t be the only one.

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Now before we continue, how many of you were aware that John Andreoli existed? The 2011 17th round draft pick out of Connecticut practically came out of nowhere and to our surprise, leads the team in both homers and runs batted in.

In 1499 minor league at-bats, the 25-year-old prospect has hit only eight home runs while driving in 110. So far this spring, he’s hammered four homers with eight RBI while slashing .345/.394/.828 through 29 at-bats.

His most recent long ball came in the 15-4 massacre over the Arizona Diamondbacks this past Thursday. It was a two-run homer to left field that came on a 3-2 pitch and no outs. Just one of his many highlights so far this spring. And then you have one of the toughest scoring plays in baseball history. The inside the park homer run.

When looking back at that play, it looked as if Andreoli was already set to round second by the time the ball bounced off the right field fence and made its way into right-center to give Chicago their 11th run of the game against the Padres.

If you ask me, having Andreoli on the 40-man roster over Murton or Victorino is something the Chicago Cubs should consider. Yes, it’s great to have those experiences veterans ready to go but this is a group of young players who already have solid leadership in Fowler and Heyward.

Next: Cubs cut 11 including Contreras, Candelario

Pretty soon Albert Almora will be joining the group, making things even tougher for opposing teams. But for right now, having someone like Andreoli on the 25-man roster is more than enough to hold us off until that happens. He’s showed us that he has the speed, the glove, the pop to both sides of the diamond and most importantly, the heart of a competitor.

The future is definitely bright for this organization looking to win its first World Series title in over 100 years. Can you feel it, Cubs fans? We’re getting closer and closer to celebrating.