The Chicago Cubs added pitchers Cory Abbott and Keegan Thompson and infielder Christopher Morel to their 40-man roster, thus protecting them from the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 10.
Abbott, 25, led the Southern League with 166 strikeouts and 146? innings for Double-A Tennessee in 2019. Baseball America ranked Abbott 11th among Cubs prospects last summer. The right-hander, who spent the summer at the Cubs’ alternate site in South Bend, Ind., was a second-round pick out of Loyola Marymount in the 2017 draft.
Thompson, 25, spent the summer at the Cubs’ alternate site as well. He missed most of 2019 because of right elbow soreness, according to reports. Thompson struck out 26 in 25? innings for the Mesa Silver Sox of the Arizona Fall League in 2019. He was a third-round pick out of Auburn in 2017.
Morel, 21, was placed on the 60-man roster and spent the summer at the South Bend alternate site. Morel, who signed out of the Dominican Republic for $800,000 in 2015, has a .243 average in four minor-league seasons and hit .284 with Class A South Bend in 2019.
Morel was ranked 22nd among Cubs prospects by Baseball America.
The Cubs 40-man roster stands at 37, leaving them three spots in the event of signing free agents or acquiring players through trades.
