The Chicago Cubs pitching staff has been much better than expected this season and could soon get even more reinforcements.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report has looked around the MLB to find the shooting stars of the minor leagues this season. For the Cubs, Brandon Birdsell is a real eye-catcher.
“(He) spent one season at Texas A&M, one season at San Jacinto JC and two seasons at Texas Tech before being selected in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound right-hander has worked his way quickly through the minors and is knocking on the MLB door with a 3.97 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 99.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.”
The 24-year-old was already a bit older when he was signed, which increased the pressure to develop quickly.
After just two years in Chicago’s farm system, he could soon be promoted.
He progressed quickly during college, splitting his time between the rotation and bullpen, and was a full-time starter during his final season with the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
In his three Division 1 college seasons, he had a 3.04 ERA with many strikeouts and a fairly high number of home runs.
His home run rate is notoriously still high, but he has made progress with his strikeouts while significantly reducing his walks.
The problem is that batsmen hit him much more often.
Last month, batters hit .313/.360/.410 against him. While he’s not the worst batting average of his career and doesn’t walk players, an OPS of .769 isn’t at all what a pitcher wants against him.
He consistently performed slightly better against right-handed batters, even though they hit him with more power.
The Texan native was once drafted by the Houston Astros but went back to school and was later taken by the Cubs in the fifth round of the 2022 draft.
He’s getting on in years in terms of his prospects, but that shouldn’t diminish his potential. The right-hander is the fifth-oldest player among Chicago’s top 25 prospects.
He was ranked 21st among all Cubs players in the farm system. He is the fifth-highest rated right-handed pitcher and the sixth-best pitcher overall.
He has a nice fastball with a solid slider. The major league club sees him as a reliever who can eat up innings pretty quickly. The door is also open for him to become a starter at the bottom of the rotation.
