The churn continues in the Cubs’ bullpen.
Coming into the series against the Diamondbacks, the Cubs had one of the highest relief ERAs in the majors and had used more than a dozen relievers.
Now left-hander Jordan Wicks is part of that group.
The Cubs called up Wicks, their 2021 first-round draft pick, from Triple-A Iowa on Friday, swapping out Luke Little, who walked four in his relief appearance Wednesday.
Wicks, 25, is a notable name to Cubs fans, who’ve been waiting to see if he’ll live up to the hype of his draft position. After making the Opening Day roster last year, Wicks missed a ton of time with injuries and pitched in only 11 games.
He has almost exclusively started as a pro, but Wicks is up to join the bullpen, at least that’s the plan for now. Manager Craig Counsell said the team hopes to keep Wicks stretched out and ideally will use him in long relief.
Wicks got into the series opener against the D-backs, allowing singles to the first — and only — three batters he faced. They all scored when Porter Hodge allowed a grand slam to the next batter as part of a 10-run eighth against Cubs pitching.
Though Wicks is relieving now, the Cubs face uncertainty on the starting-pitching front, too, after Justin Steele was lost for the season. Counsell said the Cubs will consider Wicks as a starter at some point.
Wicks still thinks of himself as a starter in the long term, but he has brought a do-it-all attitude back from the minors.
“I’m available in any role they need me,” Wicks said. “Right away, it’ll probably be out of the pen, I would imagine, which I’m completely fine with. I’ve gotten more and more comfortable the more I’ve done it.”
Wicks made one relief appearance in the majors last season, throwing 3„ innings June 8 against the Reds.
After two starts this season at Iowa, Wicks pitched in relief last weekend, earning a three-inning save.
“I have no issues throwing out of the pen,” Wicks said.
“The guys were joking with me. They threw the ball to me after the game and told me to frame it, my first Triple-A save. I enjoyed coming out of there, and it was something where you don’t really know that side of yourself until you do it.”
A host of hot-corner options
Three games since the Cubs sent Matt Shaw down to Iowa, three starting third basemen.
After Gage Workman and Jon Berti started in San Diego, it was Vidal Brujan getting the nod against the D-backs.
Brujan has shown plenty of defensive versatility during his career, appearing at every position except catcher, but it was only his 10th start at the hot corner.
He committed an error on the first ball hit to him.
Counsell said the Cubs will continue to play several players at the position, with four — Workman, Berti, Brujan and Justin Turner — to choose from each day.
Little by little
Little heads back to Iowa only three days after arriving in the majors. But after that four-walk performance, the Cubs opted to make his stay in the majors a brief one.
The obvious thing Little needs to figure out in order to return is to throw strikes.
“That’s No. 1; what’s second is pretty distant,” Counsell said. “When he’s throwing strikes, he’s been an effective major-league pitcher, and when he hasn’t, he has not been an effective major-league pitcher.
“We just have to make the incremental progress behind the scenes that, frankly, allow the ball to be in the strike zone more.”
