Cubs lefty Jordan Wicks throws live batting practice at the team’s spring training complex in Mesa, Arizona. 02-18-2024 File photo.
John Antonoff / For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. – As spring training approaches its finale, starting pitchers are going deeper into games, which leads to a scarcity of relief innings.
It’s a challenge every team has to navigate in the last week of camp. The Cubs have 22 pitchers on their spring training roster and decisions to make regarding the back end of the rotation and the bullpen.
On Wednesday, the Cubs tackled the innings shortage issue by throwing a bullpen day against the A’s and having Shota Imanaga and Jordan Wicks start in minor-league games against the Giants’ High-A and Single-A teams.
The setup gave the relievers innings against major-league hitters and let Imanaga and Wicks build up in a controlled setting. Each threw over 85 pitches in 5 ⅓ innings.
“You get to pick and choose what you want to work on,” Wicks said. “Me and [catcher Bryce Windham] would talk every inning and basically be like, OK, this inning, we’re going to do this, regardless of what happens, we just need to get reps.”
Wicks estimates he threw five sliders in a row to one batter. He was working on maintaining the shape of the pitch while landing it in the strike zone.
“The first couple innings, the shape was really good, it was just a little bit down, which happens,” Wicks said. “And we only get that feedback by being able to throw a bunch of them in the innings. So, coming back out after that, we were able to raise our sights, and it was in-zone a lot better. And it was really good after that.”
The Cubs have four pitchers competing for the last two spots in the rotation. That quartet – Wicks, Drew Smyly, Javier Assad and Hayden Wesneski – started the first time through the rotation in Cactus League play. As the rest of the starters slotted in the second time around, the Cubs piggybacked pitchers to get all of them work.
Now that starters have built up to around five innings, that’s no longer an option. Wesneski’s 1 1/3 inning appearance Tuesday was another reflection of scheduling gymnastics. Manager Craig Counsell said Wesneski is healthy, but the Cubs wanted to get him in a Cactus League game – even if it was a short outing.
Praise for Hottovy
Coaches, and especially those on the pitching side, have an “overload of data,” as Counsell put it, at their disposal. Their job is to figure out how much information they should unload on the player and how to present it.
“I think it’s one of Tommy’s real strengths, absolutely,” Counsell said of pitching coach Tommy Hottovy. “He understands both the information, and then personality types, to be able to tailor the information in a way that the player can understand it.”
Injury update
Corner infielder Patrick Wisdom showed no improvement Wednesday, after being scratched from the lineup the day before, Counsell said. Wisdom has been sidelined for about a week with back stiffness, and the issue flared again Tuesday.
Wisdom underwent imaging on his back, and the Cubs were waiting on the results as of Wednesday morning, according to Counsell.