Bastian Newsletter: Cubs' young arms writing new narrative

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The pitchers throughout the Cubs’ system know the storyline. The narrative that has followed the organization over the past decade has been that the ballclub has not produced any impact pitching from its farm system.

Chicago’s young arms are looking to change that.

“Absolutely,” Cubs pitching prospect Kohl Franklin said during Minor League Spring Training. “That’s our main goal, basically. All the pitchers. It’s always talked about. It’s always in the back of our minds. And it’s something we definitely want to change.”

Change is starting to happen from the big leagues on down.

Thursday’s 5-2 win over the Rockies featured appearances from Cubs draftees Justin Steele (fifth round, 2014), Keegan Thompson (third round, 2017) and Ethan Roberts (fourth round, 2018). On April 9, those three teamed with Scott Effross (15th round, 2015) for a combined 9-0 shutout win over the Brewers.

That April 9 shutout was…

• Only the third shutout involving multiple “homegrown” pitchers since 2011. Steele and Adbert Alzolay combined for one on Sept. 1, 2021, and Jeff Samardzija and Carlos Marmol authored another on July 23, 2012.
• The first shutout featuring at least two players drafted by the Cubs since July 23, 2010, when Randy Wells and Sean Marshall teamed up to blank the Cardinals.
• The first combined shutout featuring at least three Cubs draftees (with no other pitchers appearing in the game) on record.

Thanks to Cubs historian Ed Hartig for assisting with that research.

“I love seeing that kind of stuff,” Steele said. “I know the grind that it takes to come up through the Minor Leagues and get to the big leagues. So, to see guys that are homegrown, coming up through the system step by step and finally making it here, it’s really special to see.”

Given some of the organizational changes in recent years within the scouting and player development departments, and within the team’s Draft processes, the Cubs believe more pitching prowess is on the way. The team’s Top 30 Prospects list features 11 pitchers (seven Draft picks, two acquired via trade, one international signing and one undrafted free agent).

Righty Caleb Kilian (acquired in the Kris Bryant trade last summer) is with Triple-A Iowa and has a shot to reach the big leagues this year. Lefty Jordan Wicks (the Cubs’ top pick in the ’21 Draft) is at High-A South Bend and could climb the ladder fast. Franklin is back from injury issues and is hitting triple-digits with his fastball.

“When you hear one name for a long time — Adbert Alzolay, over and over again,” Cubs manager David Ross said, “and then all of a sudden you come in and you start to hear different names coming through the system, you hear multiple names, that’s when you know you’ve got a really good farm system and things are trending in the right direction.”

BEHIND THE SEAMS

Roberts’ first career strikeout was eye-popping. The Cubs rookie threw a slider that looked ticketed for the inside corner on Tuesday, but it then took a hard left and Pirates catcher Roberto Pérez could only pray he made contact as he started his swing. He did not.

Per Statcast, the pitch had a whopping 24 inches of horizontal movement and a spin rate of 3,012 RPM. In the first week of the season, that was the most horizontal run for any pitch in the Majors resulting in a swing and miss. Pitching Ninja and the MLB Twitter account were all over it.

“That’s super cool,” Roberts said of making the cut for Pitching Ninja’s page. “I see it all the time. I’ve seen it since college and I was like, ‘I’m going to get on that one day.’ He’s hit me up twice now. It’s super cool.”

The pitch in question was suggested by assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos, who explained that Roberts’ build and natural throwing motion could create more “sweep” with an altered grip. It’s a variation of a two-seam grip, but with the ball turned just so to have the seams inside the righty’s index and middle fingers. Then, he just throws it like a curveball.

“This is the start of my third week throwing it,” said Roberts, who first tested the pitch in a spring game on March 28 against the Reds. “It doesn’t work for everybody, but it’s a good grip for me. My fastball cuts a little bit — I get supinated throughout every pitch I throw. That’s exactly what you have to do with this grip.”

STORY TIME WITH ROSSY

During the North Siders’ visit this weekend to Coors Field, Ross shared some entertaining anecdotes about Bryant, who is now with the Rockies. This one was about Bryant’s 107th career home run on Sept. 28, 2018, moving him one past Ross’ career total in the Majors:

“My first year and his first year, one of the cool things in ’15, he was in Spring Training and had all the hype of all the home runs he hit. We’re in the training room one day and I asked him how many home runs he’d hit last year. And he said forty-something. I was like, ‘Not in The Show, you didn’t.’ And then I used to ask him how many home runs he had, and I had more than him for a long time.

“And then the day he passed me in homers for his career, he made sure that I got a text. My career was over, but I got a text from him. He made sure he let me know that he had passed me and that I was never catching him again.”

TRIVIA

Which player drafted by the Cubs has the most career complete-game shutouts while pitching for the North Siders?

A. Greg Maddux
B. Rick Reuschel
C. Ken Holtzman
D. Kerry Wood

STATCAST CORNER

One of the goals this season for the Cubs was to improve the all-or-nothing offensive approach by adding hitters with better contact ability. So far, newcomers like Nick Madrigal and Seiya Suzuki, along with Nico Hoerner, Rafael Ortega and a few others, have helped cut down on the club’s overall swing-and-miss rate.

Whiffs on only swings
2022: 25.5 percent
2021: 28.3 percent

Whiffs on all pitches
2022: 10.8 percent
2021: 13.3 percent

These percentages were through Thursday’s games.

FROM THE VAULT

With the Cubs reunited again with Bryant this weekend, let’s revisit one of his career highlights against the Rockies. The easy choice is his walk-off homer on July 27, 2015, helping the Cubs catch fire for the rest of the season. Instead, we’ll look at May 10, 2017. In the seventh inning at Coors Field, Bryant pulled a pitch down the left-field line for a leadoff double, ending Germán Márquez’s bid for a no-hitter.

TRIVIA ANSWER

B. Rick Reuschel

A third-round pick in the 1970 MLB Draft, Reuschel spent 12 seasons with the Cubs (1972-81, ’83-84) and had 17 shutouts while pitching for Chicago. Holtzman (15) and Maddux (14) are next on the list. Wood threw one of the most famous shutouts in baseball history when he struck out out 20 Astros in a one-hitter on May 6, 1998, and had five total shutouts with the Cubs.

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