Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Month: July 2024

[Jason Ross]

The trade deadline and the draft tend to grab most of the headlines in July, but that doesn't stop the MiLB side of things from stopping altogether. Which pitcher in the Cubs system stood out in July?

Image courtesy of Thieres Rabelo

The Cubs minor league system has an "offensive" slant; most of the top ten (outside of Jaxon Wiggins) are hitters, and the Cubs spent most of their high-profile draft selections this summer on bats again. There are still a lot of really exciting and fun pitchers in the Cubs' system - many of them saw promotions to new levels in July, making this a strange month for starting pitching across the board as many had up and down months. However, it's important to always look at the forest through the trees.

Honorable Mentions: 

Jaxon Wiggins - 6.59 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 26.7 K%, 11.7 BB%, 13.2 IP
The ERA is rough, but Wiggins earned a promotion to South Bend mid-month and remains one of the better prospects in the system. He's learning how to pitch against High-A hitters, but the promotion of a top prospect alone earns an HM from me, regardless of how those starts went.

Nazier Mule - 3.00 ERA, 5.40 FIP, 16.7 K%, 16.7 BB%, 11.1 IP
Mule is the opposite of Wiggins in that his ERA was great, but his FIP was not. Mule has great stuff, but controlling and commanding it remains an issue, as he struck out 11 in 11 innings pitched but also walked 11. The young pitcher hopes to continue to work on this aspect. 

Sam Armstrong—4.76 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 21.9 K% 11 BB% 17 IP
Armstrong is the latest in a line of late-round finds in the draft. By joining players like BJ Murray, Haydn McGeary, Jonathon Long, and Brett Bateman, who have had success in the minors, Armstrong has already earned his way up to Double-A. While his transition to Double-A hasn't been perfect, getting the jump earns an honorable mention, and I think he'll eventually settle in.

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3. Brandon Birdsell - (Double-A & Triple-A)
5.31 ERA, 2.31 FIP, 24.4 K%, 5.6 BB%, 20.1 IP

Birdsell also earned a big promotion, moving from Tennessee to Iowa. It was a story of "great" and "rough" for Brandon, as two of his starts he was fantastic (one in Tennessee and another in Iowa) and two that were clearly "learning processes," which gave him a bit of a leg up on someone like Armstrong, who also leveled-up but didn't have the same peaks (or valleys, however) at his new level. If injuries pile up post-deadline, Birdsell could make an appearance or two in Chicago, so keep an eye out on his process. Birdsell is a strike-throwing machine, and if he can keep his velocity in the 92-94 mph range with funky arm action, he could make himself an interesting back-end arm. Regardless of his prospect status, I think he had a pretty decent month. The ERA looks worse than the under-the-hood stuff and, in a month of transition, he deserves to find himself here.

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2. Juan Bello - (Low-A)
2.75 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 25 K%, 2.6 BB%, 19.2 IP

Juan Bello has come out and had a really solid first year in Myrtle Beach. While not a velo king, Bello uses deception, some funk, and solid pitch ability to get around lower-level pitchers - it's not out of the norm to see him "Nester Cortes" a bit on the mound playing with his delivery. July was the first month all year; however, Bello put this with improved strike throwing and walking just a pair of hitters all month. He's going longer in games (reaching five innings a few times) and looks to be on the cusp of a promotion if this keeps. A cup of coffee in South Bend wouldn't be crazy to see at the end of the year.

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1. Connor Noland - (Double-A & Triple-A)
1.82 ERA, 3.07 FIP,  25.5 K%, 5.1 BB%, 24.2 IP

As a prospect and a prospect alone, it's hard to gauge where he sits: Noland's velocity sits in the low 90s, topping around 92-93mph, but that's neither here nor there for how well he's done so far since turning pro. Showing improved K% in Triple-A so far while also generating a ton of groundballs, Noland is doing everything he can to make himself a prospect and show evaluators that there is more than fastball velocity. While I think he's probably behind Brandon Birdsell in terms of "right-now" pecking order if an injury were to happen (simply because of track record mount), it's getting neck-and-neck in terms of which lower-velo-strike-thrower the Cubs would turn to if need be. Overall, an awesome month from Connor.

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[Rex Buckingham]

why won't this article stop showing up as unread in my feed? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it, but I just don't need to keep seeing it