Tyler Austin Out "Months" Following Knee Surgery, Shaking Up Cubs' Bench Plans

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

First baseman and designated hitter Tyler Austin will be out for a prolonged period after a debridement procedure on his knee, the Cubs announced Wednesday. Austin, 34, had been the prospective bench player with the clearest role, outside whichever catcher one cares to count as the backup, and the fact that he now looks unlikely to help them any time before Memorial Day makes a major differeence for the club.

Last month, manager Craig Counsell told a Cubs Convention audience that he intended to play Michael Busch every day, after Busch emerged as arguably the best hitter on the team in 2025. That probably wasn't true at the time. Busch is a poor hitter against lefties, and Counsell had Austin as a purpose-built weapon to attack southpaws. Now, however, Busch might get virtually every start at first base, at least early in the season. Prospect Jonathon Long has put up good numbers over the last two seasons and spent all of 2025 with Triple-A Iowa, but he's considered a low-ceiling guy—and he suffered a sprained elbow on a collision at first just a few days before the Austin news.

Chicago really doesn't have a backup first baseman, with Austin and Long sidelined. Moisés Ballesteros could try his hand there, but he's not the ideal physical profile for the position. Ditto for Matt Shaw. Carson Kelly has never appeared in a big-league game at first, though he has worked out there at times. If the Long/Austin double-whammy had struck just a bit sooner, the team might have turned to free agent Rhys Hoskins, but earlier this week, Hoskins arrived at Guardians camp as a non-roster invitee. 

Instead of trying to solve the problem by making a last-minute addition, the Cubs might simply prepare Shaw, Ballesteros and/or Kelly to man first base in a pinch and trust Busch to take that post almost every day for the first half of the year. Almost any way you slice it, now, the team's bench will include Shaw and Conforto. The final spot, vacated by Austin, might now go to any of Chas McCormick, Dylan Carlson, Justin Dean or Kevin Alcántara. The loss of Austin creates lots of extra potential playing time against lefties, in particular, which suits eeach of those four outfielders nicely. 

Chicago's roster looks like it will be slightly less functional and efficient than they'd hoped, at least when they break camp. However, it might be a higher-upside group, too. Austin's injury is bad news, but it creates as many opportunities as it forecloses. The 2026 Cubs just need to be more opportunistic than last year's iteration was.

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