Jesse Rogers reported this afternoon that the Chicago Cubs are promoting one of their top prospects, Alexander Canario. This comes as a bit of a surprise as most people expected Pete Crow-Armstrong to be the next player to come from Iowa to Chicago. Canario, the 14th-ranked prospect in the Cubs’s system, was acquired from the San Francisco Giants in the Kris Bryant trade back in 2021.

After getting off to a slow start this year, Canario has been on fire of late in AAA. In 36 games at Iowa Canario was hitting .276 with 8 home runs and 35 RBIs. He had an .866 OPS. There does not seem to be a clear path to playing time for Canario right away. He will mostly be a pinch-hitter in the near term. David Ross will likely find a spot start for him over the next couple of weeks as the Cubs do not have another off day after today until September 14th and have a doubleheader on Friday.

Rogers also announced that the Cubs will be promoting veteran right-handed pitcher Shane Greene. The Cubs have been stretching Green out to use him as a starter at Iowa. Although he has not started a game in the majors since 2016, there is a good chance he gets one of the games in the Friday doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds.

Keep in mind that the September rosters only expand by two players under the new rules, so for now, Greene and Canario are the only two players being called up. That means no PCA call-up is imminent.