The left-hander’s recovery from forearm irritation has hit a snag in Triple-A. Despite returning to the mound, recent command struggles and poor metrics likely delay his season debut with the Chicago Cubs.
Chicago Cubs left-handed pitcher Jordan Wicks is continuing to work his way back from a forearm injury.
Wicks suffered a left forearm radial nerve irritation back in late February and was shut down from throwing for a few weeks. He then landed on the 15-day injured list before the regular season.
The good news is that Wicks is making significant progress from that forearm issue. He made his first rehab assignment start on April 18 and has already made four starts for the Iowa Cubs.
But the results haven’t necessarily been there for Wicks in his last few rehab assignment outings.
The southpaw looked sharp in his first two rehab starts. He threw three scoreless innings with one hit, one walk, and two strikeouts in his first rehab start and threw another 2 ⅔ scoreless innings with five hits, one walk, and two strikeouts on April 23.
In his past two outings, though, Wicks has been hit hard.
He allowed six runs on seven hits with three home runs across two innings against Triple-A St. Paul on April 28 and gave up another six runs on nine hits across 3 ⅔ innings against Triple-A St. Paul again on Sunday.
These rough outings are not a great sign for Wicks. The left-hander has given up 12 runs over his last 5 ⅔ innings pitched, and his metrics during all four of these rehab assignment starts are not encouraging.
Wicks currently has a .379 xwOBA, a .305 expected batting average, a .526 expected slugging, a 13.6% barrel rate, a 13.8% strikeout rate, and a 82.6% zone-swing rate. All six of those metrics currently rank in the bottom 15% among all Triple-A pitchers.
Therefore, there’s a good chance that when Wicks is eventually activated from the 15-day injured list, the Cubs will keep him in Triple-A.
It’s probably best to keep Wicks in the Minors once he is fully recovered from that forearm issue. He hasn’t posted solid numbers in his Major League career to date and could use more development at Triple-A.
Wicks has a career 5.21 ERA and 79 strikeouts across 26 appearances (17 starts) with the Cubs. He also struggled mightily in his eight bullpen appearances last year, where he had a 6.28 ERA in 14 ⅓ innings of work.
Given his recent numbers on his rehab assignment, it’s clear that he needs more time to work on his stuff in the Minors. He’s likely not an option to be called up by the Cubs in the short term.