Kohl Franklin Leaves Triple-A Debut Hurt; Jameson Taillon on Verge of Return

Jameson Taillon will meet the Cubs in Arizona, as they finish their long Western road trip this week. He should be back on the mound sometime during that series. Justin Steele is further away, but on schedule. When prospect Kohl Franklin will pitch again, unfortunately, is anyone's guess.

Chicago Tribune Cubs beat reporter Meghan Montemurro tweeted a few notes Saturday regarding the starting rotation, which has already been beaten up this spring. First off, she said that Justin Stele threw a bullpen Saturday and is making progress. That was expected, but the news confirms that there haven’t been any major setbacks to Steele’s recovery. The rotation hasn’t been awful so far, but Cubs starters aren’t going very deep into games. Steele's return can't come too soon.

A couple Cubs updates:

— Justin Steele will throw bullpen today. Counsell said yesterday Steele’s “got a ways to go here still but we’re making progress.”

— Jameson Taillon felt good after rehab start yesterday at AAA. He’ll join Cubs in AZ and team will figure out next steps.

— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) April 13, 2024

Jameson Taillon got hurt during Spring Training, right before his Cactus League debut. He injured his lower back, and has been out ever since. Taillon has thrown two rehab starts, one for Double-A Tennessee and one for Triple-A Iowa. He only threw a total of 6 1/3 innings in these starts, but that’s normal for a starter on a rehab stint. Four runs scored in the first start, but he allowed zero during his start in Iowa. Craig Counsell announced that Taillon’s next start will come with the major-league team. I assume it will be in Arizona, although Counsell has a lot of options. Ben Brown would be the most likely candidate to lose his starting role, but a six-man rotation would also make sense for a week or two. As I mentioned before, this rotation needs a break. If the Cubs decide to simply add Taillon while they wait for Steele to return, this could be a viable option.

The Iowa Cubs beat St. Paul 4-3 Saturday, featuring a Matt Mervis home run, his fourth of the young campaign. Alas, Kohl Franklin came out in the third inning, which was the main story for the game. Franklin was recently added to the Cubs' top-30 prospects, currently sitting at 29, per MLB Pipeline. He pitched in one game for the Tennessee Smokies, and was recently promoted to the Iowa Cubs. In his first start, he came out in the third due to an arm injury. Right after releasing the pitch, he grabbed his arm, and it was clear he was in extreme pain. While we don’t know his injury yet, my mind immediately goes to thinking about Tommy John Surgery. No matter what the injury is, it’s awful to see him go down and most likely miss some time when he had a chance to reach Chicago this year.

While Franklin’s injury hurts the pitching depth, it’s really good to see Taillon and Steele inching toward a return. The Cubs are about to have more depth, though they're still not at (or even near) full strength.