Just four days after the Chicago Cubs promoted third baseman Kris Bryant to the big league roster, it appears that another top prospect will be joining this young team sooner than expected.
According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the Cubs will officially call up 21-year-old infielder Addison Russell, joining the team that traded for him in exchange for both Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel from the Oakland Athletics.
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In his final game with the I-Cubs, Russell recorded a pair of hits including a RBI double in the 4-3 win over the Oklahoma City Dodgers Monday evening.
After Bryant was called up to Chicago, Addison struggled at the plate, finishing Friday’s game 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against the Dodgers and went hitless in two at-bats during Saturday’s game as well.
Prior to being sent to minor league camp after being cut during spring training, Russell was hitting .317/.349/.488 with one home run, six RBI, two walks, and four doubles in 41 at-bats. He was once expected to begin the 2015 season on the Opening Day roster with the Athletics until he was traded to the Chicago.
Russell entered the 2015 campaign as the third best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, two spots behind the first-place Bryant.
Now that he’s with the big league club, he’ll more than likely take over as the team’s primary second baseman as Arismendy Alcantara and Jonathan Herrera have struggled thus far.
Despite Herrera recording a RBI single in the 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday night, his offensive production hasn’t been all that great either. Herrera, 30, has only four hits in 22 at-bats with a weak .192/.222/.192 batting line while making multiple appearances at both third and second base.
As far as Alcantara is concerned, he just isn’t looking like the same player who debuted last season along with Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Kyle Hendricks, etc. In 26 at-bats this year, Arismendy has only two hits, one RBI, five walks, and 11 strikeouts to go along with a measly .077/.226/.077 line. He finished the 2014 campaign with 10 home runs, 29 RBI, 11 doubles and a .205 average.
This team is definitely hurting in this position as Tommy La Stella was placed on the 15-day disabled list due to an oblique strain he suffered during the weekend series against the Colorado Rockies.
The Chicago Sun-Times is also reporting that Russell will be making his big league debut Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
There’s no official word on what uniform number he’ll be wearing, but what matters is, he’ll be backing up southpaw Travis Wood in his major league debut.