ST. LOUIS — In five of his last eight games coming into Wednesday, Pedro Ramirez collected multiple hits.
Despite sporadic playing time, the Cubs’ rookie infielder was batting .467 with a 1.133 OPS during an eight-game hitting streak.
Ramirez has taken advantage of an opportunity and stuck around as a positive contributor on a Cubs team with one of the best records in baseball and championship-level expectations.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be on a competitive team,” Ramirez said Wednesday through an interpreter. “You go out there and you play with that passion. You have that mindset of: ‘We have to win. We’re going to win.’ It’s really exciting to be part of that.
“It’s always been my aspiration, my goal, to be part of a group like that, a competitive group.”
Ramirez is undoubtedly making an impact. But has he made a big enough impact that he’s played his way into a trade conversation or two ahead of Monday’s trade deadline?
As a young player — he’s graduated from prospect status but was among the Cubs’ highest rated prospects earlier this year — he’s at least a sensible candidate to be mentioned as Jed Hoyer’s front office pursues impact pitching to best equip the roster for a deep playoff run.
Hoyer balked at the price of pitching at last year’s deadline, opting against mortgaging the future. After pitching-depth issues helped the Cubs make an earlier-than-hoped postseason exit, Hoyer traded prospect Owen Caissie for righty Edward Cabrera in the offseason.
If the Cubs are to avoid the same fate this October, it would figure to require parting with young players of note.
Fans have speculated that Ramirez could be among the most attractive, and his performance has backed up that idea.
“It’s awesome for him to be in there and produce,” left fielder Ian Happ said. “He’s a good player. He’s got a lot of great tools that you see on display. He’s a gamer.”
Apart from the trade talk, Ramirez has proven himself worthy of consideration to play a featured role for the Cubs in the future.
But with infielders Nico Hoerner, Alex Bregman and Dansby Swanson signed to big-money, long-term contracts, it’s a wonder how Ramirez would fit into the puzzle.
The guys helping him learn as a young player — “watching them has really helped me a lot with my defense,” he said — could prevent him from finding regular playing time, perhaps a factor in any decision to use him as a trade chip this summer.
But Hoyer cautioned against assuming youngsters would be heading out the door.
“The players that people were talking about as trade chips at this point, those are the players that next year may be impacting us,” Hoyer said. “You always have to keep that in mind.”
Milner on the mound
Lefty reliever Hoby Milner, working back after a late-June appendectomy, threw a 1-2-3 inning as part of a minor league rehab assignment Wednesday at Triple-A Iowa.
Manager Craig Counsell said Milner will make another rehab appearance before returning to the big league team.
Starting-pitcher swap
The Cubs will throw righty Javier Assad against the Cardinals on Thursday, moving lefty Shota Imanaga, the previously announced probable starter, to Friday’s series-opener against the Yankees, opting to get the southpaw an extra day of rest.
Bullpen move
The Cubs swapped pitchers in their ‘pen Wednesday, bringing right-hander Jake Woodford up from Triple-A Iowa and designating righty Andrew Wantz for assignment.
Time change
The Cubs’ Aug. 30 game against the Reds has a new start time of 6:20 p.m. to accommodate NBC’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast.
