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It hasn’t been the smoothest year for Chicago Cubs prospect Adbert Alzolay, who was on the verge of making his MLB debut a few weeks back, to now expected to miss almost two months with a lat injury.
The No. 1 ranked prospect in the minor league system for the Cubs pitched four perfect innings in his May 29th start at Triple-A, but he left that outing and the following day he was placed on the DL. Two weeks before that start, it was speculated that Alzolay would be called up to pitch in a double-header against the Cincinnati Reds.
However, because of a rain out that week, the Cubs were able to keep their rotation in order and Alzolay stayed in Iowa. The four perfect innings followed and so did the lat strain.
After no updates on the 23-year-old’s status for a couple weeks, Iowa Cubs beat reporter Tommy Birch got the bottom of the story and the news isn’t great.
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Alzolay won’t be back until after the All-Star break for the Iowa Cubs.
Chicago Cubs top prospect Adbert Alzolay is in Arizona rehabbing from an injury that will keep him on the disabled list for at least the remainder of the first half of the season.
Jaron Madison, Chicago’s director of player development, said Monday he doesn’t expect the injured Iowa Cubs pitcher to return until at after the minor league All-Star break.
“He’s so close to the big leagues and helping if there was a need,” Madison said. “So, definitely disappointing, but he’s going to work his butt off and do everything he can to get back and get back to being 100 percent. Hopefully we can get past this and not have to worry about these types of things anymore.”
The Iowa Cubs begin the unofficial second half of their season on July 12.
Alzolay had his 2018 season delayed, starting the year at extended spring training after suffering an ankle injury. Before this season the right-hander hadn’t pitched above the Double-A level, but he was impressive once he arrived in Iowa.
Through his first four starts, Alzolay had a 2.91 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in 21.1 innings, striking out 17 and walking seven. Yet, the next three starts were rough, as he gave up 14 earned runs in 14 innings.
But again, Alzolay did show why Theo Epstein has praised him, even calling Alzolay a future top of the rotation pitcher.
For now all you can hope for is that the injury doesn’t become any more serious and that Alzolay returns even better.
