MESA, Ariz. – Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks turned to watch Dodgers star Mookie Betts’ ground ball skip into the gap between shortstop and third base. But, of course, Dansby Swanson was already there, sliding across the edge of the outfield grass, popping up and firing to first base for the out.
“I told him, ‘I didn’t want to start you with an easy one,’’ Wicks said after throwing two scoreless innings in his first start of the spring. “I figured we’d go with one of the hard ones to start, and then we’ll go down from there.
“But typical Dansby. Patented slide.”
Wicks, who is competing for the fifth rotation spot this spring, had already decided he needed to fill up the strike zone more than last season. The first play of the game validated his approach.
“There’s no excuse for me with the defense that we have behind us to not let those guys work,” Wicks said. “My mentality has really changed from trying to get swing-and-miss last year [to a] more groundball approach. Let Dansby and Nico [Hoerner] and whoever we have in the infield work because we have great guys behind us.”
After throwing the first seven major-league games of his career at the end of the 2023 season, Wicks made the roster out of camp last year, winning a starting starter spot. But it was a bumpy road for him in-season.
Wicks made just 11 appearances, sidelined by a right oblique strain and a rib issue around the same area. His 5.48 ERA reflected his inconsistent performance.
“Last year wasn’t anything close to the production I put in for my whole career before that,” Wicks said. “And I feel like that was the first year people really saw me, and they didn’t see who I am.”
Wicks is a groundball pitcher. With his four-seam fastball clocking in between 92 and 93 mph on average, he’s not going to overpower anyone. But he has a deceptive changeup for his bread-and-butter secondary pitch – plus a sinker, slider, curveball and cutter to round out his arsenal.
“I felt like last year I got caught up too much in trying to get swing-and-miss and being a strikeout guy and stuff like that,” Wicks said. “I watched a lot of film of my outings last year, and every time I had multiple walks, I gave up multiple runs.”
In addition to a change in mentality, Wicks added more conditioning to his offseason work. He did pilates workouts with his wife Megan. He edited his diet.
Wicks described it as a more “balanced” approach, compared to last offseason when he focused more on strength.
“Overall body wise, just really felt a lot better,” Wicks said.
From an injury perspective, he’s also healthy and was able to build up on the earlier schedule necessitated by the Tokyo Series next month.
With Javier Assad recovering from a mild oblique strain, the fifth starter battle also includes Colin Rea and Ben Brown. Though Wicks has thrown out of the bullpen before, manager Craig Counsell said he views him as a starter. So, if Wicks doesn’t claim a rotation spot, he’ll likely begin the season in Triple-A, where the Cubs can keep him stretched out as a starter.
“You’re taking a long-game perspective,” Counsell said. “Jordan’s capable of pitching a lot of innings, capable of starting games. As the season shortens and we still have depth in that area, then maybe you make other decisions.”
The way Counsell sees it, a year like Wicks’ 2024 can “refocus” a player in the offseason.
“And it challenges you, as you kind of go into the off season, you’ve got to have a good day every single day. I think Jordan has really accomplished that. He had a great offseason from a training perspective. And so he’s coming to camp running – really ready to go. And with something to prove. And that’s a good space for him to be.”