Although Wade Miley was the starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night, it was his piggyback reliever who stole the show. Following four solid innings from Miley, the Cubs called upon No. 12 prospect RHP Hayden Wesneski to give the team some length. Wesneski did just that, ending the night with 5.0 innings of scoreless ball, eight strikeouts, and only two hits and one walk allowed over 61 pitches.
Wesneski looked sensational across his five innings of work. In fact, he was as advertised. He looked strong with his four-seam fastball, he threw the occasional cutter, the sinker looked strong, and he even worked in a changeup. In addition, his wipeout slider helped rack up a number of those eight strikeouts over the course of his debut.
The Cubs noted ahead of Tuesday's game that Wesneski doesn't have a timetable to start games down the stretch. However, if he is going to come into games and provide four-plus innings of quality pitching, that is almost as good as a start on any normal night. Just think about it, Wesneski went five innings on only 61 pitches! If given a 100-pitch limit, he probably could have thrown a complete game.
If there is one thing Cubs fans learned on Tuesday night is that Hayden Wesneski might be the real deal. It's early, and early pressure doesn't need to be applied to the young righty, but more flashes like this will continue creating hype. If he has a few more outings down the stretch like Tuesday night, he will be in the fan conversations for one of the five starters out of Spring Training in 2023.
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