Cubs Activate Ben Zobrist, Send Mark Zagunis Back to AAA

The Cubs activated super-utility player Ben Zobrist from the 10-day disabled list Saturday, sending Mark Zagunis back to AAA.

Ben Zobrist will be here and available to play today. Mark Zagunis to be sent to triple a

— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) July 1, 2017

With an offense struggling to put up runs consistently, a healthy Zobrist is much needed. The veteran has dealt with wrist problems dating back to early May, but played through the pain for a few weeks before being placed on the DL. Given how cautious they’ve been with injuries in the past, not shutting Zobrist down when the pain surfaced surprised many.

Zobrist will enter the Cubs clubhouse today with a .311 wOBA and 0.6 fWAR. ZiPS projects him to accumulate another 0.8 fWAR with a .333 wOBA over the rest of the season. If he’s healthy, though, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility Zobrist produces well above his projections and replicates his overall .360 wOBA from last year’s World Series championship season.

Mark Zagunis will travel back to Iowa without recording his first MLB hit, but he is a strong bet to come back to Wrigley later in the season. ZiPS particularly believes in the rookie, as the forecasting model projected a respectable .313 wOBA in 161 PA for the rest of the season if he were to remain with the big-league squad.