CHICAGO -- Joc Pederson's last hit of Spring Training was a double off D-backs lefty Caleb Smith. The second of the Cubs slugger's two homers back on March 26 came off Giants lefty José Álvarez.

For Pederson, those were moments that helped boost his confidence in some swing changes made over the offseason. And it helped reinforce his belief that he could move beyond the platoon label that has followed him for years.

"I like where things are headed," Pederson said prior to Saturday's game with the Pirates, "and the improvements that I made. And it was cool that Spring Training, I got to see some results based on that, because it doesn't always work like that."

Overall, Pederson posted an eye-popping .378/.431/1.000 slash line in Cactus League play in his first tour with the Cubs. The left fielder launched eight homers, collected four doubles, piled up 19 RBIs and scored a dozen times in 18 games.

While working with a new hitting coach over the winter months, Pederson adjusted his setup to an even more open stance than in previous years. He tweaked his hand positioning and focused on trying to get a better angle to pitches, especially off lefties.

"I never really put too much time into working on lefties," Pederson said. "I kind of had a role set with the Dodgers and I kind of knew what that was and I accepted it and wanted to be the best I could at hitting righties. So, this offseason, I really worked on that."

Across his MLB career, Pederson has turned in an .849 OPS with a 128 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers (2,135 plate appearances), compared to a .575 OPS and 58 wRC+ against lefties (386 PAs).

Pederson signed with the Cubs after manager David Ross told the left fielder he would get a real shot at earning an everyday role. This spring, Ross was impressed with the extra work Pederson did behind the scenes to face lefties as often as possible.

"He's put in really good work," Ross said. "I think he's learning a lot about himself in that way and going through some of the live BP's and the extra batting practice he took on the backfields off lefties. And getting in and seeing some results in the games and doing some damage. I think we'll continue to monitor that."

South Bend site roster
The Cubs will carry 27 players at their alternate training site in South Bend, Ind. The list of players includes:

Pitchers: Cory Abbott, Joe Biagini, Jake Jewell, Trevor Megill, Shelby Miller, Tommy Nance, Manuel Rodríguez, Michael Rucker, Justin Steele, Kohl Stewart, Pedro Strop, Keegan Thompson, Brad Wieck.

Catchers: Miguel Amaya, Taylor Gushue, P.J. Higgins, José Lobatón.

Infielders: Abiatal Avelino, Nico Hoerner, Alfonso Rivas, Ildemaro Vargas, Andy Weber, Patrick Wisdom.

Outfielders: Nick Martini, Cameron Maybin, Ian Miller, Rafael Ortega

Outfield shuffle
With lefty Tyler Anderson on the mound for the Pirates on Saturday, Ross sat center fielder Ian Happ and gave Jake Marisnick a start in the outfield. Ross said the lineup decision was mostly based on working Marisnick into the mix early in a long season.

"I've got four really good outfielders," Ross said, "that we're going to have to mix and match. I don't want Jake to come from swinging the bat pretty well in spring to sitting and getting stale. We'll try to find the right matchups for guys, rotate that through and try to keep everybody fresh."

With Happ out of the leadoff spot, catcher Willson Contreras moved into that table-setting role.

Quotable
"We'll try not to put any one stretch under a microscope. Let's look at the body of work over some time and see what shakes out." --Ross, on evaluating results early in a season