Chicago Cubs: What expanded rosters mean for this year’s club

Chicago Cubs: Big league pinch hitter waiting at Iowa

Mark Zagunis is the only position player who is in the minor leagues and already on the 40-man roster. So calling him up will probably be a no-brainer. He was briefly up toward the beginning of the season. He played in five games and only had six plate appearances.

In Triple-A this season he has done a good job getting on base (.272 average and .395 on-base percentage). But Zagunis hasn’t hit for as much power as we would like to see (.376 slugging percentage on seven home runs and 16 doubles).

He might get a few pinch hitting opportunities or maybe a start against a left-handed starting pitcher, but I expect his at-bats to be minimal. If he doesn’t get called up, it will probably be because the Cubs decided to remove him from the 40-man roster to make room for other hitters. If the front office decides to do that though, they will have to waive him. At that point another team will probably claim him.