Tony

Campana

Campana, 35, played in the Mexican League the last couple years and hadn’t seen any action in the big leagues since 2014. The speedster posted a .583 OPS with one home run and 66 stolen bases over 257 games across parts of four major league seasons.

Campana has taken over as the Cubs regular center fielder after the Marlon Byrd trade and has started off on tear. He’s hitting .389 with three runs scored and five steals in just 18 at-bats. He possesses tremendous speed and is worthy of a flier in all mixed leagues as long as he’s in the lineup.

Campana went hitless for just the second time since his call up, but he’s still hitting .370 (10-for-27) with seven runs scored. We don’t expect the batting average to last and he doesn’t have any power to speak of, but the speed is absolutely for real. He’s a must-own in NL-only leagues and is even worth a look in deeper mixed leagues if you’re hurting for speed.

Chicago’s 5-foot-8 (on a good day) center fielder is now batting .435 to go along with six stolen bases in eight games since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa. Aside from his speed and defense, Campana does not boast a major-league skillset, but is almost guaranteed to swipe a bag when he reaches base. If you’re desperate for speed in a deeper mixed league, the odds are high you’ve made more foolish adds in the past.

Campana is trying to win a spot on the Cubs bench and needing this strong showing after picking up just two hits in his first 16 trips to the plate this spring. He has no power and can’t really hit, but he managed to swipe 24 bases last season in just 155 plate appearances. He’ll be on the radar of NL-only leaguers if he can make the team.

LaHair has been sidelined in recent days due to back stiffness. It’s not clear who would start at first base if he isn’t ready, but Jeff Baker is one possibility. Tony Campana will remain with the team in case LaHair needs to be placed on the disabled list.

The theft was Campana’s eighth of the season, though just his first in 11 May games. Nevertheless, he’s hitting an excellent .350/.391/.417 since being recalled on April 21. That won’t hold up for much longer, but Campana remains worth an own in deeper mixed leagues if you’re desperate for speed.

Campana will serve as outfield depth with Ryan Dempster’s spot in the rotation not up until Sunday. He failed to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster coming out of spring training.

Campana batted just .222/.239/.244 in 21 games this spring in the Cactus League, failing to earn a spot on Chicago’s Opening Day roster. The fleet-footed outfielder should be up at some point this summer.

Sveum is looking to jump-start his offense, but this plan likely won’t have any bearing on that. Promoting Anthony Rizzo would be a start, but that won’t happen until at least next month. The Cubs were pummeled in a three-game series against the White Sox over the weekend and Sveum is targeting the top of the lineup as an area of concern. “I might think about changing things at the top of the order,” Sveum said. “It’s not that anybody is doing anything wrong but just to change something because we aren’t producing any runs that way. We might change things up there.” David DeJesus, Tony Campana and Starlin Castro would be moved down in the order if Sveum goes through with this plan. Castro has hit third all season. He’s in a 3-for-18 slump.