Kevin Alcántara's attitude in spring training is drawing rave reviews from the Cubs

After gaining a fourth and final option year on Kevin Alcántara, the Chicago Cubs don't need to force the issue with their young outfield prospect. They could simply have him open the year at Triple-A Iowa and tell him to continue fine-tuning his offensive approach, which still has a lot of swing-and-miss.

But there's also a path for him to crack the Opening Day roster. Matt Shaw will see time all over the diamond, including the outfield, this season, but the Cubs need a legitimate fourth outfielder and Alcántara is in that mix, along with the likes of Justin Dean, Chas McCormick and Dylan Carlson.

Cubs will sort out bench situation in the coming weeks at spring training

I think it's likely that either McCormick or Carlson wind up grabbing that roster spot, but anything can happen. After all, Cactus League games haven't even gotten underway yet, and anything can happen in the next five-plus weeks. But out of the gate, Alcántara is doing and saying all the right things - a trend dating back to his brief stint with the team late last season.

“Kevin did a heck of a job,” Craig Counsell told MLB.com. “There was not a lot of playing time. It was super sporadic. I thought his preparation was great. In the clubhouse, he was great. When he got chances, he executed what we wanted him to do. And I thought that was really important. And he had success."

Alcántara spent the bulk of the 2025 season at Iowa, slashing .266/.349/.470 in 430 trips to the plate, but striking out nearly 30 percent of the time. In extremely limited time with the big-league club, he got on base at a .417 clip, but the swing-and-miss in his game was definitely present. Still, a plus defender and baserunner with potential many talent evaluators still love, he could still wind up being a big part of the Cubs' future.

“This is a family. Counsell is the father over there,” Alcántara said. “I was talking with him [recently]. He said to me, ‘Continue your work. Thank you for helping the team last year.’ I said, ‘I’m here for the team. Whatever opportunity you bring me, I want to approach the opportunity and do my best.’ ... I feel so happy that he believes in me. And I’ll continue working to stay in the big leagues for a lot of years.”

Regardless of whether he cracks the Opening Day roster, the simple truth is Chicago is losing two-thirds of its starting outfield this fall, when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki both hit free agency. The Cubs could turn to Alcántara as an in-house option for one of those corner spots, especially if he can show continued improvement at the dish in 2026.