Chicago Cubs Sign Former Top Pitching Prospect To Minor League Deal

The Chicago Cubs are coming out of what had to be the whackiest series of the year so far as they split their four-game slate against the New York Mets following an extra-innings loss on Thursday.

With that dropped contest, they are now 19-13 on the season and sit one game back of the Milwaukee Brewers, the team they are welcoming in for a huge three-game series starting Friday.

Considering all the injuries to their pitching staff and star players through the early part of the year, the fact they are still six clear of .500 and are in the mix for the NL Central title is a testament to the coaching staff and available players.

Hopefully the Cubs can put all these issues behind them when they're able to activate their guys off the injured list, but injuries are largely random and hard to project.

So, the front office has to make sure they have enough depth across their organization to be prepared in case this continues to be a problem moving forward.

According to their team's transactions page, they signed a former top prospect of the San Francisco Giants, Jake Wong, to a minor league deal. Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation reports he's been assigned to their Double-A affiliate.

Wong was a third round draft pick of the Giants in 2018 and was ranked as their No. 7 prospect the following year after posting a 2.30 ERA over his 11 starts at the Single-A level during his first professional season.

He was less heralded going forward after he had a 3.90 ERA across 23 starts in 2019 with their Single-A affiliates. Then, after not being able to compete in 2020 because of COVID-19, he also missed 2021 because of an undisclosed injury that was speculated to be Tommy John surgery.

San Francisco eventually traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. He was able to make his Major League debut in 2023, but looked overmatched when giving up three earned runs on six hits in three innings pitched.

Chicago is now getting someone who has pitched in an MLB game and will start working with their coaching staff who has been able to develop effective arms coming out of the minors.

The 27-year-old still has some upside that can be tapped into after being converted to a reliever.