The Chicago Cubs have reunited with left-handed pitcher Brandon Hughes, signing the reliever to a minor league deal. Hughes, 29, pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024, a year after a nagging knee injury destroyed his 2023 season with the Cubs.
Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reported the minor league signing on Friday.
Source: Brandon Hughes is finalizing a return to the Chicago Cubs on a minor-league deal, giving their bullpen another left-handed option and a reliever with good experience in the late innings at Wrigley Field.https://t.co/tzv8q7Y3Vv
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) January 31, 2025
The left-hander was a converted pitcher out of Michigan State and had a total of 91.2 innings in the minor leagues before he made the jump to the big leagues during the 2022 season.
As a rookie, Hughes was excellent, posting a 3.12 ERA with a 28.5 K% in 57.2 innings pitched and appeared to be one of the few relievers to have an established role entering the 2023 season in the Cubs bullpen. However, the lefty was slowed down in spring training with a knee issue that just did not go away. Hughes had three different stints on the injured list in 2023, limiting him to a total of 13.2 innings.
The lefty last pitched for the Cubs on June 11, 2023. A couple weeks later Hughes had surgery on his left knee, which kept him out for the remainder of the year. Following the season the Cubs non-tendered Hughes, who eventually signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks in 2024.
Hughes was good at Triple-A to begin the 2024 season, posting a 1.84 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. That earned him a call up to the big leagues at the end of April with Arizona. He was up and down between Triple-A and MLB and the results with the Diamondbacks weren't good. Hughes had an 8.15 ERA and 1.92 WHIP in 15 appearances. Hughes still had the ability to miss bats, recording 21 strikeouts in 17.2 innings, but he gave up eight home runs, an insane amount in such a small innings sample.
So, hopefully the familiarity between Hughes and the Cubs helps him regain some confidence in 2025. He joins Brad Keller, Trevor Richards, Ben Heller, Phil Bickford, and Brooks Kriske as the pitchers with previous MLB experience in spring training on minor league deals competing for a spot with the Cubs.
If you look at the current 40-man roster, the Cubs have Caleb Thielbar, Luke Little and Rob Zastryzny as the only other left-handed relievers.
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