Well, this sucks. Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Brandon Birdsell was once again looking like he could have helped out the team in 2025, but now the right-hander will miss the remainder of the year. Birdsell has missed most of the season with an arm injury that forced the Cubs to shut him down in spring training and now after being back on the mound for a month Birdsell is on the shelf with a new issue.
Birdsell, 25, returned to the mound in June and was officially activated from the 60-day injured list on July 18. The right-handed starter pitched in four games for the Iowa Cubs in the past three weeks and it seemed like he was trending toward being a realistic depth option in September if Craig Counsell needed another arm. Birdsell had his best outing of the year on July 31, tossing six shutout innings, with six strikeouts.
The righty had a no-hitter through five and ended the start by giving up two hits and a walk.
The top-10 prospect for the Cubs last pitched on Thursday, when Birdsell went 4.2 innings. He allowed three runs on six hits, including a pair of home runs. The following day Birdsell was placed on the injured list and on the crushing update on Sunday put an end to the pitcher's season.
According to Tommy Birch, Birdsell is done for the year.
The 2022 fifth round pick was named the Cubs minor league pitcher of the year in 2024. Birdsell recorded a 3.91 ERA in 135.2 innings between his time at Double-A and Triple-A.
So, that certainly puts more pressure on the other rehabbing pitchers to not only come back healthy, but to perform at a high level because the Cubs don't have many other options left in the minors. Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad should be available within the next week. Meanwhile, Colin Rea continues to be steady, so at least the Cubs have gotten solid production from the veteran while other pitchers have been out.
(Previous Update)
Heading into spring training right-handed starting pitcher Brandon Birdsell was certainly on the Cubs' radar as the 25-year-old finished the 2024 season strong and was primed to serve as rotation depth in 2025. Unfortunately, the Texas Tech product suffered a shoulder injury and was immediately shut down in the middle of February. On March 19, Birdsell was transferred over to the 60-day injured list and there hasn't been a peep about him since.
That is until now! We finally have an injury update on Birdsell, but before you get too excited it sounds like he's still not going to be in the picture at the major league level this season. But who knows, maybe he comes back strong and earns a September call up.
Via The Athletic.
The depth at Triple A has taken a hit, too. Jordan Wicks is on the shelf with a hamstring issue (he recently threw live BP and is close to returning to game action), and Brandon Birdsell — an upper-level pitching prospect who had a breakout season last summer — suffered a shoulder injury early in the spring and is not expected to return until later this summer.
Sahadev Sharma, who wrote that in The Athletic as part of a trade deadline preview, added one additional detail to Birdsell's timeline. In a recent episode of the North Side Territory Podcast, Sharma said the following when mentioning Birdsell to Geoff Pontes of Baseball America .
"Birdsell is hurt...I heard while I was out on the road that maybe he'll be back in July."
OK, that's something.
Birdsell was taken in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and he hit the ground running in 2023. He was assigned to Advanced A-Ball with the South Bend Cubs and in 18 starts Birdsell dominated, posting a 2.36 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 80 innings.
Birdsell was promoted to Double-A in August of 2023 and less than a year later he was making his debut at Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs.
The right-handed starting pitcher made 12 starts at the Triple-A level and recorded a 4.26 ERA in 61.1 innings to end the 2024 season. Birdsell's final start of the year was probably his best as the righty threw seven shutout innings on Sept. 21, 2024. He struck out 10, walked one and gave up five hits to wrap up his breakout season.
Between his time in Double-A and Triple-A in 2024, Birdsell had a 3.91 ERA in 26 starts. From May 20 through the end of the year Birdsell posted a 3.57 ERA in 20 starts with an impressive 24.8 K% and 4.8 BB%.
It'll be interesting to see how much the Cubs push Birdsell once he does return to game action because he'll be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft once the 2025 season is over. The Cubs can obviously protect from losing him by adding Birdsell to the 40-man roster. Hopefully Birdsell does return some time in July, which should give him a couple months to show he can still be a dependable depth piece in the future for the Cubs.
