For Jordan Wicks, Managing Chaos is Good. Avoiding It Would Be Better.

1 hour ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Having started the Cactus League opener last week, the Chicago Cubs' 2021 first-round pick is clearly on the inside track toward their fifth starter job for 2024. On Wednesday, he took another step toward winning the job, but some yellow flags remain.

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In his exciting and eventual debut last September, Jordan Wicks racked up strikeouts by leaning on the pitch that first made him famous: his changeup. For much of the rest of the season, though, he didn't miss many bats, with that offering or any other. The most memorable outing of his season might have been the last game in which the Cubs seemed to have a clear and unbreakable hold on a playoff berth, on Sept. 6 against the Giants. That day, he faced 27 batters and got 20 outs, giving up just one run, but he only struck out one batter, and he only got three swings and misses in 97 pitches thrown.

His three-inning appearance against the Brewers Wednesday in Maryvale, on the northwest side of Phoenix, rhymed with that Giants game. Wicks only allowed two hits, and he held the Brewers scoreless. He even got two strikeouts. On the other hand, he allowed some hard contact, and the ball was always moving. The Brewers would have scored, had Alexander Canario not come up exceptionally quickly and made an accurate, strong throw to nail Garrett Mitchell at the plate on a would-be RBI single in the first frame.

A Matt Shaw error didn't help matters. That was similar to Wicks's first game of the spring, when he himself failed to convert an easy out on a dribbler back to the mound. Each play was a byproduct of the fact that Wicks isn't yet keeping the ball out of play the way high-end starters do, though. It was the same way late in his start against San Francisco nearly six months ago, when a grounder back to him started the rally with which the Giants finally pushed him out of the game.

When he works inside to set up a right-handed hitter for the changeup away, it really does devastate them. Wicks did just that to both Christian Arroyo and Vinny Capra in the second frame. As much as anything, he might need to adjust the way he thinks about modulating his pitch mix throughout a start, and begin looking for more of those whiffs right away. Establishing the fastball and filling up the zone early sounds good and like it would allow a hurler to have more success late in a game, but that matters relatively little if he gets hit too hard before turning toward his swing-and-miss stuff. These same Brewers taught Wicks that lesson (or tried to) the hard way in his final start of 2023, launching two homers and scoring six runs in a game that saw the southpaw record just five outs.

Wicks did a superb job of coming up to the big leagues and pounding the strike zone. That's no small feat, for a southpaw starter without above-average velocity. He's done the same this spring. When we think of pitchers with good enough control to prevent walks, we tend to assume it comes with a different kind of control--control over the whole game, in the sense that things always feel relatively calm. That, alas, is not yet the case for Wicks.

I wrote about how he can change that, earlier this month. Tweaks to his pitch mix and sequencing could help him get more whiffs, because that is possible with his stuff--especially the changeup. He already does a good job of remaining poised and bearing down when traffic starts to pile up on the bases, but there are ways for him to turn another corner. In the early returns from spring training, though, it looks like he'll continue to deal with a certain level of chaos in the majority of starts this year. Quelling that chaos through excellent competitiveness and pitchability is admirable, but to consistently win games in the big leagues, Wicks will have to start nipping that chaos in the bud.

 

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22 year old Pablo Alienado was his catcher yesterday.

Jordan praised Pablo for his efforts. 

I'd be very interested to watch Amaya/Gomesian work with him these spring games

Maybe my old eyes deceive me but I thought Wicks gave up a lot of weak contact.