Frank Schwindel Signs with Dominican Winter League Club

Former Chicago Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel wasn't out of the job long after being released by the Cubs on Sept. 18. The 30-year-old signed a contract with the Águilas Cibaeñas of the Dominican Winter League for the 2022-23 season. The team announced the move on Sunday. 

Schwindel was a bright spot in Chicago's dark second half of the 2021 season. After being claimed off of waivers from the Oakland Athletics, "The Tank" was called up following the Cubs trade deadline sell-off and became the team's primary first baseman. 

The righty took the job and ran with it, finishing with a slash line of .342/.389/.619 and a 1.002 OPS. That was good enough to place him sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, despite playing in just 56 games with the Cubs, and also earned him the opening day first baseman job in 2022.

Unfortunately, the New Jersey native was unable to replicate his success in an injury-plagued 2022 campaign. Schwindel had a .635 OPS with Chicago before being demoted to Triple-A, and the addition of Franmil Reyes paired with the team opting for a platoon of Alfonso Rivas and PJ Higgins at first base made it tough for the St. John's product to earn his way back to the Majors.

The promotion of breakout first base prospect Matt Mervis to Triple-A Iowa along with a trip to the injured list seemed to seal Schwindel's fate, as the righty hadn't played in a game in almost a month at the time of his release.