Jordan Wicks had a brief and tough 2024 season for the Chicago Cubs. The 25-year-old left-hander was hoping for his first full season as a member of the Chicago Cubs starting rotation after joining the major league club in August of 2023. Injuries derailed that vision for Wicks, and after he started to build momentum on the mound, 2024 is largely a wash for the southpaw, making his future with the Chicago Cubs unclear.
Wicks started the season in the rotation, earning a spot on the starting staff with his spring performances and brief late-season stint the previous season. The Arkansas native started the year with a handful of outings that were a continuation of what Cubs fans had seen in 2023. After heading to the IL in May, Wicks returned in June for a pair of short starts to ramp up to full strength. But Wicks wasn’t ready and returned to the shelf for two and a half months. He returned in September to try and help the playoff push but struggled to get batters out.
Injury-Plagued 2024 for Chicago Cubs Lefty
Wicks came into 2024 with high hopes and a great opportunity in front of him. After the Chicago Cubs missed the playoffs by one game in 2023, the club hoped that the left-hander could help push the team the extra mile and get them into October. Wicks debuted with the team last year and worked for a month-plus in his first campaign, setting himself up to be a big contributor to the Cubs in 2024.
Wicks wasn’t exactly dazzling in 2023, but he showed the Chicago Cubs enough. Heading into spring training, the conversation around the fifth spot in the rotation revolved around Wicks and Javier Assad. The competition fizzled out when Jameson Taillon left spring training with a lower-back injury that put him on the IL to open the season. Wicks and Assad both got a spot in the opening-day rotation.
Wicks started 2024 with a month of outings that reflected much of what he showed in 2023. He had occasional trouble with command and was still tinkering around with his pitch selection and what his identity as a big-league pitcher was going to be. He made strides, though, and had his best outing of the season against the Houston Astros, going six innings and only allowing two runs in a Cubs win that doubled as his first winning decision of the year. The victory would be his last for a while, as he was sent to the IL with a forearm strain, the first of two injuries that would decimate his season.
Forearm and Oblique Sideline Jordan Wicks
The forearm strain kept Wicks out for a month and a half. When he returned in June, he had to ramp back up to a starter’s workload, and in his second start back in the rotation, he left in the second inning with an oblique injury. 2024 was not going the way Wicks or the Cubs had wanted. And what had been thought of as a middling starting pitching staff was becoming a premier cornerstone of the ball club without Wicks as a member. The struggles of Kyle Hendricks and the injury to Ben Brown created an opening in the back end of the rotation that Wicks could’ve taken advantage of.
The oblique injury kept Wicks out for two and a half months, only subsiding when September came around and the Chicago Cubs’ postseason hopes were all but dashed. Trying to salvage some part of the 2024 season, Wicks made four starts to end the year and, after a good performance in his return from the IL, got beaten around in his final three. This inflated his numbers to show a poor season from the Arkansas native and put his standing with the major league team in jeopardy going forward.
Looking Ahead to 2025
Despite the injuries, there are some things to take from Wicks’ performance in 2024. He was better at pitch selection with count leverage when he was on, Which further defines his strategy moving forward. There were negatives to take away from Wicks’ season as well. He walked too many batters and didn’t show versatility regarding pitch placement. Whether it was a lack of command or a concerted effort by Wicks and the staff, he needs to be more flexible with where he can throw his pitches, or hitters will continue to easily hit him.
The only pitch that Wicks showed a willingness to move around the plate was his fastball, and if only one pitch, then it’s a good thing it was the heater. Wicks threw his fastball 45% of the time, and although he left it up in the zone a startling amount of the time, he showed an ability to paint the corners and go low. His secondary pitches were not as flexible. The left-hander tossed change-ups, sinkers, breaking balls, and cutters that were far too predictable and allowed hitters to identify them and lay off or attack as needed.
After an incomplete 2024 for Jordan Wicks, the Chicago Cubs have an interesting decision to make with him moving forward. Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, and Javier Assad are assured of spots in the rotation, and so is Jameson Taillon if he isn’t traded this winter. Ben Brown could return to the rotation, but the Cubs are leaning toward making him a member of the bullpen. Wicks will be a contender for the rotation again in 2025, but if Cade Horton gets the call to the show, Wicks might be looking for a new gig in the bullpen, in the minors, or elsewhere.
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