Cubs' Hayden Wesneski finishes strong in 'crazy' 2022 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
CINCINNATI — Who would have believed at this time last year that Hayden Wesneski, an off-the-radar Yankee prospect at high-A when the season began, would be pitching for the Cubs in October right now.
“It’s been crazy,” Wesneski said after finishing his debut month with six more impressive innings Monday in a 3-1 loss to the Reds.
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OK, October means something a bit different this year with last winter’s lockout pushing the regular season three games deeper into the fall.
But that point about the “crazy” and unpredictable path for Wesneski this year remains — going from an unexpected trade from the Yankees for Scott Effross in August to big-league debut Sept. 6 to the best bet among 2022 Cubs rookies and prospects to find his way into next year’s season-opening rotation.
“If you’d have told me I’d be right here in this spot, I’d tell you, you were lying,” said Wesneski, who gave up one earned run (and an unearned run via his own throwing error) Monday, with just four hits allowed and six strikeouts with a walk.
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“I thought I would be in Scranton, Pennsylvania, still,” he said of the Yankees’ Triple-A home. “September’s been long, but this year’s been short. I don’t know; it’s been weird. It’s just been a crazy year to be honest with you.”
Wait’ll next year.
“I thought he threw great. Every outing he gave us a chance to win,” said manager David Ross, who has suggested Wesneski should be in the mix next spring to try to earn a starting job. “He threw strikes, had command of the zone with multiple pitches. … Very nice season for us, nice major-league debut.”
That six-game debut finished with a 3-2 record and 2.18 ERA in 33 innings, with 33 strikeouts and seven walks — a 1.85 ERA in 24 1/3 innings in his four starts.
And, perhaps to his credit (if not some kind of baseball OCD), Wesneski said he might have done better if not for a lapse in process in his final couple of games.
“The results were great,” he said. “Just the way I went about it was not exactly how we wanted — or how I wanted. Everybody else thinks it was really good. It’s just I really wish I’d have attacked a little bit better towards the end.”
Again, wait’ll next year.
In the meantime, check out our real-time Cubs’ 2023 Rotation Power Rankings, with Wesneski overtaking Adrian Sampson (who received votes for NL Pitcher of the Month in September) for No. 2.
NBC Sports Chicago has taken a closer look at in-house rotation pieces as they head into a crossroads offseason that figures to include targeting at least one significant starting pitcher in free agency.
Even with a loss Monday that snapped a seven-game winning streak and dropped the team’s record since the All-Star break to 38-30, Wesneski lowered the rotation’s ERA since then to 2.93 (third in the majors to the Dodgers and Astros).
The latest 2023 Rotation Power Rankings, with an emphasis on recent performance/consistency and health (so Kyle Hendricks, who hasn’t started playing catch since getting shut down last month for a capsular tear in his shoulder, doesn’t make the list):
1. RH Marcus Stroman (last ranking: 1) — Stroman won his final three home starts (20 IP, 2 ER) after going 0-5 with a 7.11 ERA in his first nine career Wrigley starts (all this year as a Cub). His final stat line for the first year of his three-year, $71 million free agent deal: 6-7, 3.50 ERA, 25 starts, 138 2/3 innings). “I can’t wait for next year,” he said.
2. RH Hayden Wesneski (last ranking: 3) — Wesneski on what he takes from his debut heading into a big offseason: “You kind of just know what to look for in the big-league lifestyle. It’s totally different than the minor leagues. And just facing guys like [Bryce] Harper and big names like C.J.Cron and Charlie Blackmon and stuff like that — you just have to take it as they’re human. You have to slow it down and understand this is a lot more than just the minor leagues as well. Just digesting what the big-league lifestyle is.”
3. RH Adrian Sampson (last ranking: 2) — Sampson has one start left, in Wednesday’s season finale, after going 3-1 in six September starts with a 1.50 ERA in 36 innings — earning NL Pitcher of the Month votes and a vote of 2023 confidence from his manager along the way: “Sampson’s definitely put himself in position to be able to help us next year.”
4. LH Justin Steele (last ranking: 4) — Steele has spent the past month on the IL because of back soreness but appears to be fully recovered after throwing a bullpen session Saturday that Ross called “phenomenal.” The Cubs don’t feel the need to bring him back just to throw a couple of innings at the end of the season — especially after finishing off a 3.18 season that included a career-high 119 innings with a 1.49 ERA in his final 10 starts (to go with 10.8 Ks per 9 in that stretch).
5. (tie) LH Drew Smyly and RH Javier Assad (last ranking: tied 5) — Smyly, the veteran with a $10 million mutual option the club might try to renegotiate into a multiyear extension, has been one of the Cubs’ most consistent starters all season, albeit with six weeks lost to an oblique injury midseason and more recently two weeks lost to shoulder soreness. He also has averaged just under five innings per start, but with a 3.48 season ERA as he returns for a final start Saturday.
Assad has impressed at times since his debut, with a 3.62 ERA in eight games, but also has shown typical youthful tendencies in command and consistency. It’s a big offseason for him as he looks ahead to a 2023 as a likely second-five depth piece to start the season.
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