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To say 2024 for the Chicago Cubs has been a roller coaster is quite an understatement. After a sizzling hot start, this offense has gone ice-cold. Injuries have mounted in almost every position. Over fifteen players have already done time on the injured list. An unlikely hero has been keeping the Cubs afloat through it all. However, if you look at the numbers, Javier Assad being a hero isn’t really unlikely.
Assad is 4-0 through nine starts in 2024. His 1.49 earned run average is second on the Cubs to Shota Imanaga’s league-leading 0.84, but it is still among the top five in baseball. Assad has allowed hits and walks, holding a 1.03 WHIP, but has consistently gotten out of his own trouble. Just nine runs, eight earned, have crossed the plate as Assad’s responsibilities.
His last start in Atlanta was just more of the same. Assad pitched six full innings of shutout baseball, giving up just four hits and one walk while striking out seven on 86 pitches. This was his third start of going six innings in 2024.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Assad has been getting outs his entire career. After signing as a free agent in 2015, Assad worked his way through the Cubs system and is now a staple in the starting rotation. He has now appeared 50 times for the Cubs and holds a 2.67 earned run average. He’s been a Cub his entire professional baseball career, and fate had it that way all along.
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Why Javier Assad Wears Number 72
Javier Assad has worn number 72 for the Cubs his entire time in the major leagues. He told the Cubs’ play-by-play announcer, Jon “Boog” Sciambi, that he chose that number because he wanted a seven to be in it. The number seven is significant to Assad because of his favorite baseball player in the Mexican league growing up, Derrick White.
White, who you may or may not remember, had a brief stint with the Cubs. In 1998, White played eleven games for the Cubs. In ten official at-bats, White had one hit—a two-run home run against the Chicago White Sox on June 6th. White was placed on the waiver list in July that year, and the Colorado Rockies picked him up. He then signed another deal with the Cubs in 1999 but never made the team. He went on to play baseball internationally until 2009 before retiring.
Although he wore 25 for the Cubs, White’s legacy is carried on through Assad’s number 72. Assad is having an All-Star caliber season to begin in 2024 as he continues to help carry a beaten and battered Cubs team. As this team regains health, things will hopefully go back to their better ways. But the Cubs will have to figure out the rest of the rotation because removing Assad for someone else is no longer a viable or winning option.
