MESA, Ariz. — Pete Crow-Armstrong’s path to the Cubs’ Opening Day roster was always difficult when the team brought back Cody Bellinger.

It was officially closed shut Friday afternoon when he was one of 12 roster cuts at Cubs camp that reduced the Spring Training roster to 50. Crow-Armstrong will open the season at Triple-A, where the Cubs hope he can press their hand at some point this season.

“Our thought right now is that the best place is for PCA to start in the minor leagues and start his season that way and then just knock down the door for us and make us figure something else out on the Major League side,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think it involved  our signing like just signing Cody that made sense to go that direction.”

Crow-Armstrong was the most notable cut Friday, but the rest of the list of players was pretty prospect-heavy.

Right-handed pitcher Ben Brown, infielder Luis Vazquez and outfielder Brennen Davis were optioned to Triple-A Iowa. Right-handed pitchers Porter Hodge and Michael Arias and outfielder Kevin Alcántara were optioned to Double-A Tennessee. Right-handed pitchers Ethan Roberts and Riley Thompson, catcher Pablo Aliendo, infielder Matt Shaw and outfielder Owen Caissie were all assigned to minor league camp.

Those players were able to give Counsell a first-hand look at what the organization’s farm system looks like.

“There’s just numbers,” Counsell said. “Look at this point, like, we all want to say there’s lists and everything and it’s you say like we know who’s going to [be good], no. The best thing to have is numbers to me because guys are gonna surprise you and we’re gonna be disappointed by some players. But there’s a lot of them and that’s the best thing.”

Counsell and the Cubs know that Crow-Armstrong is a key piece of the team’s future, but also recognize his best path of development lies with consistent playing time at Iowa.

With Bellinger in the fold in center field, the corner outfield spots manned by a pair of veterans in Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ and the fourth outfield spot filled by veteran Mike Tauchman, Crow-Armstrong’s fit wasn’t clear. Sure, Counsell could have used him as a defensive replacement or pinch runner late in games, but that wouldn’t have helped the rookie grow as a player.

“I mean, Pete’s 21 years old,” Counsell said. “He needs to just play baseball and learn from his experiences playing baseball. And as he keeps doing that — the younger you are, the more you just have not experienced yet — and he’s gonna get better quickly. That’s how it’s gonna work for him.”

For players like Caissie and Shaw, the opportunity allowed them a firsthand look at a major-league clubhouse for the first time.

“That’s a big deal for a lot of these guys, just being around [the major leaguers],” Counsell said.

Solid outings for Imanaga, Bellinger in second game

It took just 1 pitch for the ball to find Bellinger in his first game of the spring in the field.

Samad Taylor hit a flyball off Shota Imanaga that Bellinger — playing center field — snagged for the first out of the game.

“It’s always funny, like no matter what you always get the first ball,” Bellinger joked. “It’s crazy.

“So good to get the first one under my belt and felt really good out there.”

Imanaga looked solid in his second start of the spring at Sloan Park as the Cubs beat the Mariners 9-5 in split-squad aciton. The lefty struck out 5 over 3 innings while allowing 2 runs on 4 hits with a pair of walks. He allowed a solo home run to Luis Urías to open the 2^nd inning.

“I was working on throwing the fastball for a strike up; a couple of misses for balls and then there’s the home run,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “I want to continue to work on that. It was the same issue I had last time, so just continue to work on that, make adjustments.”

The fine-tuning of the fastball comes down to using it early in counts. If he can use it to get ahead, that allows him to use his splitter and slider, two of his best pitches, to beat hitters.

“I’ve been missing [the fastball] a little bit,” Imanaga said. “I’m trying to locate to spots where even if they do hit, it’s a foul ball, and then I could get a strike and get ahead in the count.”

Hendricks’ outing

In the other game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, Kyle Hendricks allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk with 2 strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work. The final line was a bit deceiving.

The righty threw 15 curveballs in the outing as he worked to feel the pitch out before the season begins.

“For sure, it’s going to go game to game here in spring, so depending on who the opponent is and what I’m going out and working on different things,” Hendricks told a pool reporter. “So today, for sure I wanted to get the fastball established down and away no matter how many times I had to throw it, and throw a lot of curveballs, really get the feel for it, throw some over the plate, see what swings I get, try and throw some under and see what swings I get.”

Next Up

The Cubs host the Rockies on Saturday at 2 p.m. on Marquee Sports Network. Jameson Taillon will be making his spring debut against Colorado.