North Side Baseball's 2024 Minor-League All-Star Team, Part Two: Pitchers

The Chicago Cubs missed the playoffs in 2024, though their pitching staff (especially the rotation) held their own as the team repeated their 83-79 performance from 2023. Luckily, the team comes equipped with a strong farm system that is set to further augment that strength. During the 2024 minor-league season, the Cubs had a number of breakout performances up and down the ranks of their system.

North Side Baseball’s minor-league writers voted for the awards and for an All-Star team of Cubs prospects. This isn’t a top prospect ranking or list, but a recognition of which players in the Cubs’ system had the best seasons. Each writer chose five starting pitchers, a right-handed reliever, a left-handed reliever, and two more relievers.

Before we get to the All-Star pitchers, here are our 2024 North Side Baseball Award winners (and links to the articles to see who else received votes).

Short-Season Hitter of the Year:Anderson Suriel 
Short-Season Pitcher of the Year: Jostin Florentino  
Minor League Hitter of the Year: Matt Shaw  
Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year: Brandon Birdsell  
Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year: Nico Zeglin 
Cubs Minor League All-Star Hitters

Read through our choices for each position, and then discuss and cast your votes as well!

Let's begin.

Starting Pitchers (5) 
RHP Brandon Birdsell (24) - Tennessee Smokies, Iowa Cubs   
Acquired: Cubs 5th-round draft pick in 2022 out of Texas Tech University
2024 MiLB Stats: 8-9, 3.91 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 2.1 BB/9, 8.9 K/9
If you had asked anyone before the 2024 season who they thought would be named the Cubs’ minor-league pitcher of the year, the answer would have been Cade Horton. Instead, it proved to be the ace of the Iowa Cubs’ staff.

Birdsell’s excellent control comes with two plus pitches in his fastball and slider, and he continues to tinker with a curveball and changeup. Though he gave up a few more home runs this year compared to his debut in 2023, he boosted his strikeout rate significantly while dropping his walk rate as he climbed to Triple-A. The Cubs have a lot of options for their fifth starter role (not to mention an entire offseason to acquire an outside free agent), but Birdsell is going to get his chance to prove himself to Chicagoans next year.
ETA: Mid-2025

RHP Connor Noland (25) - Tennessee Smokies, Iowa Cubs  
Acquired:  Cubs 9th-round draft pick in 2022 out of the U of Arkansas 
2024 Stats: 12-5, 3.49 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 2.4 BB/9, 7.8 K/9
Another member of Iowa’s rotation by the end of the season, Noland struggled in his first taste of Triple-A in 2024, pitching to a 5.29 ERA in just shy of 50 innings. However, he was utterly dominant with the Tennessee Smokies, going 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA in 16 starts. He’s significantly more raw than Birdsell, and comes equipped with far less exciting stuff, but Noland possesses the evasive “pitchability” skill that continues to push him forward. Expect him to spend a full year at Iowa building up his arsenal before getting a chance to pitch in front of the raucous crowds at Wrigley.
ETA: Early 2026

RHP Kenten Egbert (23) - Myrtle Beach Pelicans   
Acquired:  Undrafted free agent signed on Jul. 21, 2023, out of Miami (OH)  
2024 Stats: 7-2, 3.04 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 2.9 BB/9, 9.6 K/9
For a guy who doesn’t walk a whole lot of batters and strikes out quite a few of them, Egbert has remained conspicuously under the radar over the last year. He’s got a fastball that tops out in the mid-90s and earned a full-time job in the Pelicans’ rotation this year, though players can hit him when they’re not fooled by his lackluster secondary offerings. Still, he keeps the ball in the park (0.74 HR/9 in 2024) and profiles as an interesting candidate to rise a number of levels next season if everything clicks.
ETA: Late 2026

RHP Juan Bello (20) - Myrtle Beach Pelicans    
Acquired: International signing from Colombia on Feb. 21, 2022. 
2024 Stats: 4-5, 3.21 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 2.8 BB/9, 9.1 K/9
Juan Bello is a young pitcher, but he’s got an advanced feel for how to mess with hitters. In his minor-league career thus far, he possesses a 130-to-39 strikeout-to-walk ratio; has surrendered just eight home runs in 125 ⅓ innings; and allows a batting average of .223. Like Egbert, he still needs to refine his offerings, and at 20 years of age, the Cubs can afford to be more patient with Bello. However, his name should remain on your radar for the foreseeable future, and an assignment to High-A South Bend should be on the table out of the gates in 2025.
ETA: 2027

RHP Sam Armstrong (24) - South Bend Cubs, Tennessee Smokies   
Acquired:  Cubs 13th-round draft pick in 2023, out of Old Dominion University. 
2024 Stats: 5-7, 2.87 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 2.8 BB/9, 7.8 K/9
After a choppy debut in 2023 when he allowed eight runs in 13 2/3 innings at Myrtle Beach, the Cubs chose to aggressively push Armstrong with a difficult assignment in High-A to open this season. All he did was respond with 3.00 ERA in 66 innings there, eventually earning a promotion to Tennessee, where he was even better.

His strikeout numbers tumbled in Double-A, though he did continue to limit walks in his 50 innings (2.70 ERA) with the Smokies. Armstrong’s greatest strength is his ability to keep opposing hitters guessing, often producing weak contact that generates easy outs. Having recently turned 24, Armstrong profiles as a true starting pitcher prospect with a chance to toe the rubber at the Friendly Confines before 2026 is over.
ETA: Mid-2026

Bullpen (4)
Right-Handed Relief Pitcher: Frankie Scalzo (24) - Tennessee Smokies, Iowa Cubs 
Acquired: Cubs 14th-round draft pick in 2021 out of Grand Canyon University  
2024 Stats: 3-5, nine saves, 2.14 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 3.6 BB/9, 7.9 K/9
The No. 2 finisher in North Side Baseball’s Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year voting, Scalzo continues to dominate hitters out of the bullpen. After not allowing a single run in 26 innings to open the season with the Smokies, he got a promotion to Triple-A Iowa that also came with him being stripped of his “closer” title. He spent a few days on the Development List in August, and as he settles into being a high-leverage arm at the highest level of the minors, Scalzo will continue to make headway toward a debut that will likely come in the next calendar year.
ETA: Mid-2025

Left-Handed Relief Pitcher: Blake Weiman (28) - Tennessee Smokies, Iowa Cubs 
Acquired: signed as minor-league free agent (2/2/24) 
2024 Stats: 5-0, seven saves, 2.68 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 1.4 BB/9, 9.8 K/9
Weiman spent the majority of his season at Double-A, taking over as the closer for Scalzo once the latter was promoted to Iowa. Weiman is a lefty with the ability to get hitters from both sides of the plate out, and his 0.97 WHIP reflects a pitcher who continues to evolve in terms of control and pitching instinct. He’s going to be 29 in November, though, making his status tenuous at best. If he’s going to get a crack at sticking in the Cubs’ bullpen, it’ll probably have to happen in the next year or two.
ETA: Late 2025

Relief Pitcher: Nico Zeglin (24) - Myrtle Beach Pelicans, South Bend Cubs 
Acquired: Undrafted free agent signed Apr. 25, 2024 out of Long Beach State.   
2024 Stats: 7-0, three saves, 0.95 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, 2.2 BB/9, 12.3 K/9
A name that wasn’t even on the most tuned-in radars going into this season, Zeglin has suddenly become one of the most enticing relief prospects in the Cubs’ system. He went multiple innings in every appearance this season, including four starts at the end of the year, and he has the potential to convert to starting if the organization chooses to pursue that route.

All of his stats from 2024 jump off the page, though his most impressive numbers include a 5.63 K/BB ratio, 0.27 HR/9, .165 batting average against, and his 0.82 WHIP. It’s hard to predict where the undrafted free agent could go from here, but if his dominance continues, a 2026 debut in Chicago shouldn’t be out of the question.
ETA: Mid-2026

Relief Pitcher: Carlo Reyes (26) - South Bend Cubs, Tennessee Smokies 
Acquired: minor-league free agent signing on May 5, 2024, from the Dodgers organization 
2024 Stats: 3-2, two saves, 1.36 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 2.3 BB/9, 12.7 K/9
As a mid-season minor league signing, expectations were practically nonexistent for Reyes, who pitched to an ugly 7.06 ERA in 21 2/3 innings with the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in 2023. All Reyes did once the Cubs signed him was throw 13 1/3 shutout innings in South Bend to earn a promotion to the Smokies, where he struck out 37 batters in 26 1/3 frames. He’s an older prospect, as well, though the Cubs clearly discovered something with his fastball-curveball-changeup combo. He should begin next season in Double-A, with a mid-season promotion to Iowa on the table.
ETA: Late 2026

So there you have it, the nine-man pitching staff of the 2024 North Side Baseball Cubs Minor-League All Stars.