The Cubs completed their three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday and will now head into their London series against the St. Louis Cardinals winning 10 of their last 12 games. Thanks to the trip across the pond, Dansby Swanson is going to get some extra rest after he needed x-rays on his right wrist.
During the middle game of the Cubs' series in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Swanson took a fastball off his right hand in the fourth inning against right-handed starting pitcher Johan Oviedo. Cubs manager and the team trainer walked down the first base line along with Swanson, making sure the shortstop was fine and ultimately he not only stayed in for the rest of the inning, but Swanson played the rest of the game.
The fact Swanson played the whole game certainly made the news of an x-ray surprising, but luckily that came back negative.
Swanson was not in Wednesday's lineup, but Ross expects the starting shortstop to return against the Cardinals this weekend in London.
Swanson, who has played in 160 and 162 games, in the final two seasons with the Atlanta Braves, has played in 72 of the Cubs first 74 games this season.
Speaking of guys getting hit on the wrist, Miguel Amaya was drilled on Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles at Wrigley Field and after getting an x-ray, his status remained unknown for a few days. That was until Wednesday, when he returned to the starting lineup and went 1-for-3, with 2 runs scored and a walk. The young, right-handed hitting catcher has been excellent during his time up in the majors this year and is now slashing .250/.392/.425, with a 131 wRC+ in 52 plate appearances.
Prospects Back in Action!
How about this sight! Left-handed pitcher and former top prospect in the Cubs minor league system Brailyn Marquez pitched for the Cubs down in the Arizona Complex League earlier this week. Marquez, now 24-years-old, has not pitched in a game since he made his MLB debut at the end of the 2020 season against the White Sox.
At this point it's just good to see Marquez on the mound because just a few weeks ago Cubs GM Carter Hawkins was talking about how disappointing it was that the lefty couldn't make it back yet from his various injuries. Hopefully this is the start of a good redemption story for Marquez.
Meanwhile, Alexander Canario, who had a monster year in 2022, but then suffered a freak injury playing Winter Ball that required two surgeries, is also back. The outfielder has played in a few ACL games and he even homered a few days ago.
In his first four games in the Arizona Complex League, Canario is 2-for-10, with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts, 1 home run and a double.
Codi Heuer
This is the bad update. The right-handed reliever has been on an extended rehab assignment with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A and after missing all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery, Codi Heuer was on his way back later this summer. Well, that was until this.
From Tuesday night's game.
Heuer left the game and obviously when you see a pitcher react that way it normally doesn't end up good.
Brennen Davis
All right, so this is a bit older, but I missed it when it first came out. We knew about Cubs prospect Brennen Davis going on the injured list down at Triple-A on June 7, but at first the expectation was that it was only a precautionary move and that the outfielder would only miss the minimum seven days.
Well, two weeks later Davis is still out and on June 15, when Jed Hoyer spoke to reporters, he said this about the former top prospect.
Via CHGO.
He’s seeing doctors. Just trying to get to the bottom of… he’s been out there, he obviously hasn’t been impacting the ball the same way he did. The power hasn’t been there. Just trying to get to the bottom of it, because we’ve seen him when he’s right and how impactful he can be. That’s not where he is right now. We just need to get to the bottom of what is ailing him physically and what we can do about it. … It’s not back related.”
On one hand, all right, there's an injury that may be the main reason leading to his struggles this year. On the other hand, Davis is dealing with another injury, which seems pretty serious, for the second consecutive year. Sad times for Davis, who 18 months ago, was viewed as the next big-time Cubs prospect. Now? Doctors are trying to figure out what's wrong with him.
