Top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins is sidelined with arm soreness, raising development concerns.
The Chicago Cubs made a handful of roster moves before their series opener against the Pirates on Friday. These moves included activating Seiya Suzuki, designating Dylan Carlson for assignment, and placing Phil Maton on the 15-day injured list.
However, the Cubs also revealed some unfortunate news regarding top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer told reporters that Wiggins is dealing with a “sore arm” and will not make his scheduled Triple-A start on Friday.
We already knew that Wiggins was not expected to make his scheduled start. Tommy Birch reported on Thursday morning that the right-hander was no longer listed as the Iowa Cubs probable starter for Friday.
Cubs farm director Jason Kanzler told Birch that the organization is “being strategic with how we deploy our pitching.”
The Cubs will no doubt be careful with Wiggins. They just lost Cade Horton (torn UCL) for the season and can’t afford to lose their top pitching prospect for an extended period. The organization will manage his workload throughout the 2026 season.
Seeing Wiggins dealing with a sore arm definitely raises some concern. He has dealt with his fair share of arm injuries over his pitching career. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and missed multiple weeks due to shoulder fatigue in 2025.
While there has been no report on how long Wiggins will be out with this sore arm, the Cubs are hoping that he can return to the mound sooner rather than later. Any missed time continues to hurt his development.
Cubs fans shouldn’t expect Wiggins to be called up any time soon. Not only is he currently dealing with a sore arm, but his numbers need to improve at Triple-A before the team even thinks about promoting him.
In his most recent start, Wiggins allowed four runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts across four innings. Control has been a problem for MLB Pipeline’s No. 55 overall prospect so far this season, as he has walked five batters in eight innings.
The 24-year-old is simply not quite ready yet for the big leagues. Both his ERA and walk rate need to improve at the Triple-A level moving forward. Wiggins has allowed 10 earned runs across 17 ⅔ innings (5.09 ERA) in five career Triple-A starts dating back to last year.
Hopefully, this sore arm doesn’t keep Wiggins down for a long time.