In just one more day on September 1st, Major League rosters will expand from 26 to 28, allowing teams to call up extra reinforcements to help their team down the stretch.

The Chicago Cubs are one of the more surprising teams in baseball this year. On July 17th after a loss to the measly Washington Nationals, the Cubs found themselves at 43-50 and poised to sell off names such as Cody Bellinger and Marcus Stroman, but fast forward to August 28th and the Cubs now sit at 70-62, 1.5 games up in the wild card standings.

The biggest piece in the turnaround offensively was Cody Bellinger returning to MVP form, but they also received great production from unexpected pieces such as Mike Tauchman, Nick Madrigal, and Miguel Amaya to pair with steady performers, Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson.

Even struggling hitters Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki, the latter of which was benched for a week, have shown signs of life and have been two of the Cubs most productive hitters in recent weeks.

On the pitching side, Marcus Stroman, would struggle before being shelved for what is likely the rest of the season with a rib cartilage fracture, but the likes of Javier Assad and 2021 1st rounder Jordan Wicks have been sharp in the rotation to go with ace Justin Steele and “flamethrower” Kyle Hendricks. The bullpen has been a strength as well with Julian Merryweather, Michael Fulmer (recently put on the IL), Mark Leiter Jr, and Adbert Alzolay holding things down, and the return of Keegan Thompson, who struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced on Sunday against the Pirates.

While there has been a lot of improvement and positives, there is still plenty of room for the Cubs to improve with September call ups. Here are 5 players who could potentially be called up.

1. OF Pete Crow-Armstrong

The Cubs received Pete Crow-Armstrong from the Mets for Javier Baez during the 2021 sell-off. Since then the speedy outfielder has become the Cubs top prospect, and ranks as the 12th best prospect in all of baseball. After raking in AA for a majority of the season, PCA was called up to AAA Iowa at the beginning of the season, and raked through his first couple of weeks with the club. He has since cooled off a bit, but he still posts a .806 OPS in 92 PAs to go with numerous highlight reel grabs in center field.

PCA would be the most exciting player to call up, and he would give the Cubs a massive boost in outfield defense and baserunning, which happen to be two of the Cubs strengths. It’s very possible he gets the call, but it may be possible that the Cubs will elect to let him finish the season in AAA and continue to develop.

2. 1B Matt Mervis

Matt Mervis has been stellar for the Cubs since the beginning of the 2022 season, where he started out in A+ South Bend and quickly rose up the ranks to AAA Iowa. He posted a sparkling .984 OPS to go with 36 homers and 119 RBI’s across three levels in 2022, and he has backed it up this year Iowa, with a .936 OPS, 18 homers, and 64 RBI’s.

Mervis even got a much anticipated stint in the big leagues earlier this year, but it wasn’t pretty as he posted a .531 OPS in 90 big league at-bats. His underlying numbers suggest that some bad luck was in play, as he had a .318 xwOBA and a .218 BABIP. He never saw consistent playing time though with the emergence of a healthy Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini still around. Mervis would offer some more slug for the Cubs, and it would give them an opportunity to see how he’s adjusted.

3. LHP Luke Little

Luke Little was a 4th round pick back in 2020. The lefty stands at a towering 6’8″ and features a heater that sits in the range of 94-97 with a nasty slider. He will be rule 5 eligible at the end of this year, so it’s likely that he will be put on the 40 man at some point, and with Drew Smyly being the only lefty in the pen, it makes sense for Little to get the call.

He dominated A+ and AA, and posted a 1.86 ERA in his first 9.2 innings with 18 K’s and just 5 walks in his time with the Iowa Cubs. It really seems to be a no brainer for the Cubs to call him up.

4. OF Alexander Canario

The Cubs acquired Canario from the Giants in exchange for 2016 NL MVP Kris Bryant during the 2021 sell-off. The 23 year old quickly rose up the ranks in 2022 starting in A+ before getting the call up to AA, and finishing the season off in AAA. Canario posted a .899 OPS and 37 homers across all three levels.

The young outfielder looked poised to be a lock for the 2023 Chicago Cubs roster, but while playing in the Dominican Winter League, Canario suffered a horrific injury while trying to beat out a ground ball. He would suffer an ankle fracture paired with a shoulder dislocation that would keep him out for over half of the 2023 season.

Alexander Canario would recover and return to the Iowa Cubs in July this year, posting a .875 OPS in 140 AB’s. If we look at just the last week, Canario is slashing an absurd .458/462/1.125. It would be awesome to see Canario finish the season with the big league team, where he would’ve been had he not been injured. His power would be a massive boost for the Cubs.

5. RHP Shane Greene

I documented in a previous article (see here), how on June 25th, the Cubs took a flyer on former All-Star Shane Greene. It looked like it was time to call it a career for the 34 year old, but the Cubs game him one last shot by getting him in the Pitch Lab, and he has been spectacular so far in the minor leagues.

The Cubs have been stretching him out as a starter and he has made 5 starts in Iowa, posting a pristine 2.16 ERA and 1.26 WHIP with 20 K’s. With the Cubs having a double header on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds, it makes a ton of sense for them to call up Greene to start one of the those games, and then move into the bullpen.

He would be able to give the Cubs another multi inning reliever, who also has experience in high leverage situations as a shut down closer. Those two things could be critical for a club fighting for a playoff spot.

Who do you think the Cubs call up? Leave a comment down below, or let us know on Twitter @WeLikeSportzPC what you think!

– Zachary Lory

Follow me on Twitter for more sports content @Swervin32_

*Photo courtesy of MLB.com