The Chicago Cubs have made another offseason free agent signing, albeit at the minor-league level, signing super-utility player Scott Kingery on Tuesday. The minor-league deal comes with an invitation to big-league Spring Training, as Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times first reported.
Kingery, 31, appeared in 19 games in 2025 with the Los Angeles Angels. While he did offer defensive versatility, playing five different positions — including pitcher — he had just four hits in 27 at-bats and was worth -0.5 wins above repolacement, according to Baseball-Reference.
The Cubs signed utility player Scott Kingery to a minor-league contract that includes an invitation to major-league spring training. Kingery, 31, had his best season with the Phillies in 2019 (2.7 WAR). He appeared in 19 games with the Angels this year.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) December 2, 2025
Selected in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies out of the University of Arizona, Kingery signed a six-year contract worth $24 million in March 2018 — before he ever played a game in the major leagues. After posting strong minor-league numbers in 2017, he broke camp with the big-league club in Philadelphia the following year but underwhelmed as the Phillies’ starting shortstop.
Kingery did break out a bit in 2019 with a 101 OPS+ (just above league average) in 126 games, finishing with 34 doubles and 19 home runs while playing all three outfield positions as well as third base, shortstop and second base.
.@ScottyJetp4x out here sending more baseballs into orbit. #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/ZRmK7lbmO9
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 16, 2019
But he has never come close to repeating that 2019 season. Kingery struggled mightily in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, then bounced between the majors and Triple-A in 2021, collecting just one hit in 19 at-bats before landing on the 60-day Injured List with right shoulder inflammation.
Kingery then appeared in just one game in 2022 without coming to the plate, and he languished in the minors for the next two years. In November 2024, the Phillies traded him to the Angels for cash considerations, and he spent this past season once again moving back and forth between the majors and minors.
By season’s end, Kingery had accumulated enough service time to become a minor-league free agent, and the Cubs are now giving him another shot. With Chicago holding Spring Training at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz., Kingery will get to spend February and March close to his hometown of Phoenix.
Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
The Cubs’ lone major-league free agent signing so far this offseason has been reliever Phil Maton, a veteran right-hander they inked to a two-year, $14.5 million contract as they begin to rebuild their bullpen.
There is little risk to signing Kingery, who has played more than twice as many games in the minors as he has in the majors. If he ends up spending time with Chicago, he gives the Cubs a versatile depth piece who can be used as a pinch-runner or late-game defensive replacement, similar to how Chicago used Jon Berti and Vidal Brujan in 2025.
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