Top Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins was rumored to be in the city this past weekend, but while fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet, the right-handed pitcher is finally taking serious steps forward in his recovery from elbow inflammation that knocked him out of game action for nearly two months.
Wiggins was down in Arizona, ramping back up after last pitching for the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A back on April 4. He made one appearance in the Arizona Complex League before being assigned to a rehab stint with the South Bend Cubs at High-A Ball.
It’s been an uphill battle for Wiggins to stay on the mound since he was drafted in the second round out of Arkansas in 2023. He’s been the No. 1 pitching prospect in the Cubs’ organization since Cade Horton officially graduated from that status in the summer of 2025, but Wiggins has been treated with kid gloves ever since.
In 2025, Wiggins posted a 2.19 ERA in the minor leagues, but he pitched only 19 games and threw 78 innings. As dire a situation as the Cubs’ pitching staff has found itself in this season, fans should probably hold back their expectation of when to see Wiggins make his MLB debut.
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Yes, after two successful starts for Wiggins with South Bend, returning to Triple-A, and eventually becoming an option to contribute to the big-league club in 2026 is back on the table, but as Bruce Levine stated, that most likely won’t be until much later in the regular season.
Yet, this past week was positive for Wiggins. He threw 2.2 innings on June 21 and then looked sharp on June 27, striking out four with no walks and only two hits allowed in 3.2 innings.
It was pretty concerning that there really wasn’t much of an update on Wiggins until June, but he’s back on the mound, should be ready to resume his normal routine in Triple-A, and that’s a big win after his setback at the start of the regular season.
As long as there are no other setbacks, Wiggins will still have to prove that he can throw enough strikes to become a viable MLB pitcher this year. If he does, the Cubs could certainly use him in some capacity, even if it means it’s in short bursts out of the bullpen.
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Jaxon Wiggins last pitched on April 4 and then was scratched from his next start at Triple-A. The organization was supposedly taking it slow with Wiggins, who was also slowly guided through the 2025 season. However, ever since Jed Hoyer initially gave an update on the Cubs’ top pitching prospect you knew something was wrong.
We’re less than a week away from June, and Wiggins remains in Arizona, seemingly making little progress in the Cubs’ spring training facility. The 24-year-old pitcher was suffering from elbow inflammation in April, when he was first shut down this season. Now, seven weeks later, Wiggins is throwing off the mound, but he doesn’t appear to be close to game action.
Hoyer had a rather vague update on Wiggins earlier this week, which doesn’t exude much confidence that Wiggins will be a factor any time soon.
Not ideal. Maybe it was premature to expect Wiggins to come up and help the 2026 Cubs, but it also wasn’t too far-fetched to think the right-handed pitcher could have been an option down the stretch. Now you just hope he stays healthy.
