The Chicago Cubs placed first baseman Anthony Rizzo on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to April 6) with lower back tightness and selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Efren Navarro from Triple-A Iowa.
 
Navarro, who will wear uniform number 50, will be available for the Cubs this afternoon when they play their home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field.
 
The 31-year-old Navarro has played parts of five major league seasons with the Los Angeles Angels (2011, 2013-16) and Detroit Tigers (2017), batting .243 (77-for-317) with 16 doubles, three home runs and 22 RBI in 153 career games.  He has played 87 games at first base and 44 games in the outfield.  He has played three games with Iowa this season, batting .250 (3-for-12) with three RBI, after seeing action in 21 spring training games as a non-roster invitee to big league camp.
 
Navarro split the 2017 campaign between Detroit and Triple-A Toledo, batting .230 (14-for-61) with two homers and two RBI with the Tigers and hitting .276 (132-for-479) with 10 homers and 61 RBI in 131 games with the Mud Hens.  Overall, he is a career .295 hitter (1,347-for-4,571) with 282 doubles, 65 homers and 607 RBI in 1,245 games covering 12 minor league seasons.
 
The left-handed batter and thrower was originally selected by the Angels in the 50th round of the 2007 Draft out of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.  Navarro is a native of Lynwood, California.