The Cubs are in agreement with outfielder Forrest Wall on a minor league contract, reports Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. He opted out of a non-roster deal with the Padres last week.
Wall had spent the entire season in Triple-A with San Diego. He hit .298/.384/.429 while going 21-22 in stolen base attempts. Wall only hit four home runs but reached base at a strong clip behind a high batting average and a solid 10.4% walk rate. That wasn’t enough to get an MLB look from the Padres. Wall did get brief big league stints with the Braves and Marlins last year, combining for 16 games. He had eight hits (all singles) with a trio of walks and eight strikeouts in 35 plate appearances.
A former supplemental first-round pick, Wall has played parts of six Triple-A seasons. He owns a .273/.360/.391 slash in nearly 1900 trips to the plate. Wall is a plus runner who has played all three outfield positions, but his big league experience has mostly come in left field. He’s a patient hitter but doesn’t have a ton of power and only makes contact at a league average rate.
The Cubs have a crowded outfield picture. Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker have the spots secure. Seiya Suzuki is at designated hitter but would play the corner outfield in the event of an injury. Kevin Alcantara and top prospect Owen Caissie are on the 40-man roster and on optional assignment. Wall’s best path to a big league job is probably as a September call-up who could serve as a pinch-runner. He has more than 300 steals in nearly 1000 career minor league games.