Did Carter Hawkins reveal flaws in Cubs’ pitching development?

Hawkins probably meant it as praise for ex-Cubs star Kyle Hendricks’ command and longevity despite his fastballs barely topping 90 mph in his entire career. But this isn’t about Hendricks himself. He’s a Cubs legend and deserves every ounce of respect. But building a modern pitching staff around the idea of replicating him sounds like an organizational malpractice.

Part of their logic comes from the fact that the Cubs’ defense is legitimately one of the best in baseball. The infield of Alex Bregman, Dansby Swanson, Nico Hoerner, and Michael Busch all make highlight plays on defense. And the outfielder Ian Happ won multiple Gold Gloves, and Pete Crow-Armstrong makes spectacular catches like catching regular flyballs. That’s a credit to the front office.

But defense doesn’t help when the ball is leaving the yard. And it doesn’t help when the Cubs have surrendered MLB-worst 84 home runs as of June 3rd. Jameson Taillon has given up league worst 20 homeruns following his start on Tuesday. And Shota Imanaga, who was off to a strong start, has given up 13 home runs. He is going to pitch on Thursday with a wind blowing out. Imanaga’s four-seam fastball averages 92.2 mph, while Taillon’s four-seamer sits around 91.7 mph. 

To be fair, the Cubs may have finally unlocked Ben Brown’s potential as the injuries have hit their staff hard. After being moved into the rotation, he has been one of the few bright spots for the Cubs this season. He added a sinker (two-seam fastball) to his arsenal.

Meanwhile, they had high hopes for Cade Horton coming into this season. But his season was cut short on April 3rd when he left just after 17 pitches against Cleveland. He underwent a revision repair of his ulnar collateral ligament(UCL) and is expected to miss 15-16 months. And Edward Cabrera, their prized addition in the off-season, has been inconsistent. Before he went on the IL on May 24th, he had a blister on his right middle finger.

To add more misery for the Cubs fans, the Milwaukee Brewers have two frontline starters in Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison, who are big reasons why the Brewers are ahead of the Cubs by 6.5 games in the NL Central as of this writing. Milwaukee isn’t just ahead. They’re operating in a different mode. And Hawkins’ “17 Kyle Hendricks” line sounds both arrogant and strategically outdated.

So the Cubs are trying, but they have been beset by injuries just like every other team. But if the Cubs want to compete for the World Series, they need to modernize their pitching pipeline. That means embracing risks by drafting high school pitchers with velocity early in the draft. This applies even if they have college commitments.

Until that shift happens, the Cubs will continue to risk falling further behind the Milwaukee Brewers.