CHICAGO — Kevin Alcántara is going under the knife.

The Cubs outfielder, and the team’s No. 5 prospect, per MLB Pipeline, underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia, the team announced. A source originally confirmed to Marquee Sports Network that Alcántara was undergoing surgery after heposted an image of himself on a hospital bed on Thursday morning on his Instagram story.

Alcántara is expected to have a mostly normal offseason and be healthy for spring training in February.

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer did not provide surgery updates for any other Cubs players in his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, but did not rule out the possibility of other operations, either. Last season, Dansby Swanson (core muscle) and Nico Hoerner (flexor tendon) had offseason surgeries.

[WATCH: Jed Hoyer’s full end-of-season press conference on the Marquee Sports Network App]

“We have a medical meeting [today], actually, so I’ll have a better feel for that,” Hoyer said Wednesday morning. “[Swanson and Hoerner’s] were pretty high profile, and I sort of knew about those at this point, so I don’t expect anything quite that high profile, but there may well be some surgeries that come out of it, or recommended surgeries or second opinions.

“We can get you that information later.”

The 23-year-old Alcántara spent much of the season in Triple-A Iowa after making his major-league debut at the end of the season in 2024. The Cubs called him up to start September, optioned him on Sept. 13 and then recalled him the next day when Owen Caissie suffered a concussion that landed him on the injured list.

He was 4-for-11 (.364 AVG) with a .780 OPS in 10 games for the Cubs in the final month of the regular season. Alcántara was on the team’s playoff roster for both the NL Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres and the NL Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, which the Cubs lost in five games.

Alcántara is an interesting player for the Cubs next year. This season was his last option year, meaning he can’t be sent down to the minor leagues next season without being exposed to waivers.

The Cubs could carry him on their bench as an extra outfielder or designated hitting option, but if the team brings back slugger Kyle Tucker, that makes it a difficult path to regular playing time for Alcántara. Part of the reason top prospects like him, Caissie and Moisés Ballesteros spent much of the year in Iowa was because of the lack of consistent at-bats at the major-league level.