At first I was going to 100% push back on the notion that Cubs completely dropped the ball with right-handed reliever Jeremiah Estrada, but I'd be a hypocrite because he's exactly the type of player I've wanted this team to give more opportunities to in the past few years. So yeah, fair game, let's get mad about Jeremiah Estrada. However, maybe it's not always Jed Hoyer's fault.
Estrada, who was drafted by the Cubs in 2017, made his big league debut during the 2022 season. The righty only appeared in five games, but showed some flashes of brilliance in his first cup coffee in the majors. Heading into the 2023 season Estrada was on the outside looking in to make the Opening Day bullpen, but he was one of the first relievers called up from Triple-A in April.
The 2023 season was rough for Estrada, who made 12 appearances with the Cubs before he was demoted back to the minors and was never called up again. The righty struggled with his command, walking 12 batters in 10.2 innings and when he did find the strike zone Estrada was crushed, allowing 12 hits, including four home runs.
There's no doubt about it, Estrada was awful. In two of his final appearances with the Cubs Estrada failed to record an out.
The Cubs sent Estrada to Triple-A in June and he struggled even more during his next 13 games, posting an 11.77 ERA with 20 walks and six home runs given up in 13 innings. The righty was sent to the Arizona Complex League for five weeks to receive additional coaching before returning to the Iowa Cubs in September.
To his credit, Estrada did finish his season strong with 12 strikeouts and only two walks in 6.1 innings after his stint down in Arizona. Following the 2023 season the Cubs outrighted Estrada, meaning he was off the 40-man roster and available for any team to pick him up on waivers.
On Nov. 6, 2023, the Padres claimed Estrada from the Cubs. The righty made an appearance against the Dodgers in the team's opening series in South Korea. Estrada was then optioned to Triple-A and recalled at the end of April.
Estrada's 2024 season with the Padres was night and day compared to his final year with the Cubs as he recorded a 2.95 ERA in 61 innings and had a stellar strikeout/walk ratio of 94/23. So far in the postseason Estrada has not allowed an earned run in three innings of work although he was tagged with a blown save in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Dodgers, allowing a two-run, go-ahead single to Teoscar Hernández.
In Game 3 against the Dodgers Tuesday night, Estrada looked dominant in his one inning of work, striking out two batters while retiring the side in order in the sixth.
That outing definitely dug up some hard feelings for Jed Hoyer, which again, is fair. You will get criticized relentlessly when you don't put together a playoff team. And back to my initial point. Yeah, I do wish the Cubs would have given Estrada a longer leash and would have preferred that he stuck around in the organization longer for two main reasons: was only 25-years-old last offseason and had shown actual flashes of success in the majors.
Plus, Estrada looked better after his time in the team's pitch lab in Arizona. At a time when the Cubs needed (and still do) as much talent from relievers as possible, letting Estrada free on waivers is a bad look for the Cubs.
Jed's going to get the blame for anything that goes wrong and as the top guy in charge that's just how it goes. However, where was the pitch lab long before August 2023 to help Estrada establish a new pitch? Apparently he did find it during his time in Arizona last year, at least figuring out the early phase of what eventually became Estrada's nasty "chitter."
ESPN's Alden Gonzalez profiled Estrada's rise with the Padres back in June and here's the origin of Estrada's chitter that he eventually perfected in San Diego's system.
Via ESPN.
For the better part of a month, the two experimented with a cutter and a gyro and pored through videos of how Stephen Strasburg and Eric Gagne threw their changeups. Eventually they settled on a "Vulcan" grip similar to Gagne's, in which the baseball is lodged between the middle finger and ring finger. After some tinkering, Estrada figured out a way to get a proper feel for the pitch -- by placing his ring finger atop a seam, curling his middle and index fingers into the side of the ball and telling himself to release it like he would his fastball.
"I threw one and it worked," Estrada said. "It was like a light bulb went off."
For Estrada, it took months to perfect. Shortly after discovering the pitch, Estrada carried a baseball with him everywhere he went and held it that way whenever his right hand was free -- in bed before falling asleep, in the bathroom while brushing his teeth, in the driver's seat of his car when a red light came on, at a restaurant while waiting for his order to come out.
He only threw the pitch a handful of times upon returning to Triple-A near the end of the 2023 season -- nowhere near often enough for the Cubs to grasp its impact. They outrighted Estrada off the 40-man roster on Nov. 1, the night of his 25th birthday. Five days later, the Padres, intrigued by the characteristics of his fastball, plucked him off waivers. Roughly a month after that, during an extended bullpen session with Niebla, Estrada found what he had been longing for -- a connection.
"We were having fun," Estrada said. "That's when you know you have, like, a true relationship. It clicked."
I mean, we see these stories all the time, sometimes players simply need a change of scenery, a new set of eyes to finally unlock something.
And that's why I really can't be completely infuriated by the Cubs letting Estrada go because guess what, the Cubs have done the same thing with guys from other organizations. Plus, as we've seen the past couple years, relievers are insanely volatile on a year-to-year basis. Hats off to Estrada for working his ass off to get better and hopefully he keeps it up.
For the Cubs, hopefully they have a bit more patience the next time they have a pitcher who is 24 and has shown some promise. That I agree with. Estrada wasn't a 31-year-old reliever who had several chances to prove himself. He didn't even reach 20 innings with the Cubs.
A bad look and as much as we praise the team for their work bringing in fringe MLB relievers and getting positive results from them, it's more than fair to point out the misses. Jeremiah Estrada looks like a huge mistake by the Cubs right now.
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