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Well, this was certainly a fun headline to wake up to Friday morning for Cubs fans.
Less than two weeks ago Patrick Mooney of The Athletic wrote about the possibility of the Cubs bringing up either one of their young, left-handed pitching prospects late in the season. Mooney characterized those chances being low, but things have certainly changed for the Cubs pitching staff in the past week.
Tyler Chawtood and José Quintana are both on the injured list, meaning right-hander Adbert Alzolay will slide into the rotation, beginning Saturday, when the Cubs have a doubleheader against the Cardinals.
But that wasn’t the only update Sahadev Sharma shared on Friday. Brailyn Marquez, the 21-year-old lefty who had a breakout 2019 season, could be called up later in September.
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Via The Athletic.
For now, the Cubs will try to piece everything together and then reevaluate in a week or so. One name to not completely write off yet is Brailyn Marquez, the Cubs’ top pitching prospect, who is working at the alternate site in South Bend. The hard-throwing lefty started off slowly and seemed unlikely to help the team this season. But he’s trending in the right direction and if that holds up, there’s a chance that he could be a factor for the big-league club somewhere down the line.
We’re not just talking about the best pitching prospect the Cubs currently have, Marquez is the best pitching prospect the organization has had in a long, long time.
With that said, Marquez hasn’t pitched above A-ball, but he made batters look completely overmatched in 2019. I mean, just check out this stretch beginning in July last year. This included allowing just one hit total in three straight starts.
Purely from a fan’s perspective, yes, please bring him up. Who wouldn’t want to see the young lefty who can throw 100mph?! Obviously there are more factors to consider, so we’ll find out if the team thinks he’s ready in the next couple weeks.
