Hayden Wesneski had some rough moments early in the season, but he's getting another shot in the Chicago Cubs starting rotation. This is now the third time the 25-year-old pitcher has been on the big-league roster in 2023, and it comes during the best stretch for the Cubs this year.
Left-handed starter Drew Smyly came out of the bullpen last week against the St. Louis Cardinals after Michael Fulmer pitched the first two innings as the opener for the Cubs. Smyly, who began the 2023 season with a 2.60 ERA through his first 10 starts, has been awful since June. Now, the Cubs are finally replacing his spot in the rotation with an actual starting pitcher.
On Friday, the Cubs called up Wesneski and sent right-handed reliever Michael Rucker to Triple-A.
Wesneski, 25, has made 10 starts for the Cubs this year and has 15 total appearances. His overall numbers are kind of what you expect from a rookie. The right-hander has posted a 4.75 ERA in 60.2 innings.
Wesneski began the 2023 season as the team’s fifth starter, winning the competition with his great showing during spring training. The rookie had ups and downs through the first month and a half and was eventually optioned to Triple-A in the middle of May, when Kyle Hendricks returned. Wesneski was back up at the end of May, but he was used as a reliever for the next five weeks before he was once again optioned to the Iowa Cubs on the 4th of July.
From May 31-July 2, Wesneski pitched in seven games with the Cubs. He was fine, recording a 4.22 ERA in 21.1 innings. The righty really only had one bad outing, allowing, five runs in three innings against the San Francisco Giants on June 11. In his other six games, Wesneski had a 2.45 ERA in 18.1 innings.
During his recent stint with the Iowa Cubs Wesneski was absolutely filthy, striking out 19 batters in 11 innings.
The Cubs have climbed back to .500, after winning their sixth game in a row Thursday night against the Cardinals. The Cubs remain in third place in the NL Central Division, but they’re now 5.5 games back of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Meanwhile, if you take a look at the NL Wild Card standings, the Cubs are four games back of the third Wild Card spot. More importantly, the Cubs are only three games back in the loss column.
There was just no way the Cubs could continue to count on Smyly and I'm not even sure how much he's going to be relied on moving forward. I guess at first the Cubs might try to piggyback these starts with Wesneski and Smyly, but last time out was almost a disaster. Smyly gave up five runs, four earned on Saturday against the Cardinals. The lefty was bailed out, as the Cubs offense led the team to an 8-6 win.
Smyly has posted a 6.89 ERA in his last 48.1 innings, dating back to May 28.
Tonight will be Wesneski's first start with the Cubs since June 11.
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