Cubs Officially Promote James Triantos, Option Kevin Alcántara

After a fair bit of guessing as to how the Cubs would accommodate James Triantos, the club officially announced his promotion on Friday afternoon. In order to make room on the active roster, Kevin Alcántara has been optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Just as a note for those who are wondering, Alcántara is not on his last option, but in his last season of being able to be optioned.

The Jaguar has only gotten 21 plate appearances and has never gotten more than two in a game due to Craig Counsell using him strictly as a platoon outfielder/DH. That’s why he was expendable, but it also begs the question of why the Cubs would promote Triantos just to use him so sparingly.

Part of it might just be a reward for his strong performance this season, which is something we’ve seen the Cubs do in the past. They also tend to prefer having players make their MLB debuts on the road, and Pittsburgh is less than a five-hour drive from Triantos’s hometown of Vienna, VA.

But this might not just be a matter of Triantos filling the same role as Alcántara, and not only because Triantos is primarily an infielder who has also logged a fair bit of time in the outfield. While he and the man he replaced are both right-handed hitters, Triantos has posted big reverse splits in each of the past two seasons and is slashing .317/.360/.454 against righties in Triple-A this year.

While Alcántara was also hitting better against righties in the minors this season, the big difference is contact. Triantos boasts an 11.6% strikeout rate over 378 PAs, nearly a third of what Alcántara put up. There’s also a strong sense that the Cubs have seen enough of the lanky outfielder despite giving him only 43 plate appearances over short stints in each of the past three seasons. They could be looking to move him as a throw-in at the deadline.

Triantos doesn’t figure to see much time himself, and he may not be long for the active roster as Jed Hoyer looks to add at the deadline, but MLB debuts are always fun. See the media release below for more.

The Chicago Cubs today have recalled infielder James Triantos from Triple-A Iowa. In a corresponding move, outfielder Kevin Alcántara was optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Triantos will wear #5.

Triantos, 23, is batting is .306 (107-for-350) with 24 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 52 RBI, a .344 OBP and a .440 slugging percentage in 88 games with Iowa this season. His 107 hits this season currently rank third in the International League. Among current I-Cubs, Triantos is second in doubles and third in batting average and RBI. In June, he slashed .355/.386/.527, while ranking third in doubles (10), tied for fourth in hits (33) and 10th in average among Triple-A hitters.

A Fairfax, Va., native, Triantos has a .286 batting average (602-for-2,107) with 112 doubles, 19 triples, 38 home runs, 268 RBI, a .752 OPS and 135 stolen bases in 534 minor league games across six seasons in the Cubs farm system. He was named the Cubs No. 3 prospect following the 2022 season and in MLB.com’s most recent mid-season rankings was ranked as the No. 7 prospect. The right-handed hitter was selected by the Cubs in the second round of the 2021 draft out of James Madison High School (Vienna, Va.). Triantos has yet to make his major league debut.

Alcántara, 24, has hit .200 (4-for-20) with three RBI in 19 games with the Cubs this season.

The Cubs play the Pittsburgh Pirates at 5:40 p.m. CT at PNC Park in a game that can be seen on Marquee Sports Network and heard on 104.3 the Score.