Cubs Catcher Placed on IL, But Even Bigger Pitching Injury News Revealed
Yup, another Cubs player is on the injured list. Prior to Friday night’s series opener against the Kansas City Royals the Chicago Cubs placed veteran catcher Tomas Nido on the 10-day injured list because of a knee sprain. The 30-year-old, who was acquired earlier this season after he was dumped by the New York Mets, has played in 17 games with the Cubs since June 21.
While Nido hasn’t hit much with the Cubs, slashing even worse than Yan Gomes at .128/.143/.234, in 50 plate appearance, he at least has been solid behind the plate. The Cubs had to make room on the 40-man roster to bring in Nido’s replacement and it’s unfortunately rookie pitcher Ben Brown who has been moved to the 60-day injured list.
Brown has been out since June 8, because of a neck strain. The Cubs were hopeful that Brown could make it back some time in July, but now the right-hander won’t return until at least the second week of August at the earliest. Christian Bethancourt, who the Cubs signed to a minor league deal three weeks ago, has been added to the active roster and will now be the backup catcher to Miguel Amaya.
Bethancourt, 32, has played with five different teams during his MLB career and the Cubs will now be his sixth. In 403 games at the major league level Bethancourt has a slash line of .226/.257/.355, with 32 home runs. He began the 2024 season with the Miami Marlins, but was designated for assignment on June 21 after posting a .466 OPS in 38 games.
Luckily for the Cubs, Amaya has seemingly tweaked his approach at the plate for the better and after a couple days on the bench he’s gone 11-for-21 with 4 walks and only 2 strikeouts in his last nine games.