Looking ahead with Jed Hoyer to the 2022 Chicago Cubs
By Bill Felber
Adbert Alzolay
The Chicago Cubs’ rotation entering 2022 begins and ends with Kyle Hendricks. To the extent there’s a No. 2, it’s Alzolay, a 26-year-old in his first full season after tryouts in 2019 and 2020.
It’s been an up-and-down year for Alzolay. In 112 innings he’s allowed just 98 hits…but 24 of those 98 have left the yard. That’s about two blasts for every nine innings of work. That explains his 4.82 ERA, his 5-13 record, and the fact that he’s pitched into the sixth inning only six times.
Opponents are hitting .301 against his sinker, a pitch that has constituted more than a quarter of Alzolay’s entire arsenal in 2021.
But there are positive signs. His hit, walk and strikeout rates – 7.9, 2.6, and 9.2 per nine innings respectively – are somewhere between acceptable and good. His 1.161 WHIP is best among the numerous veterans and rookies who have made at least one start for the Cubs this season.
Beyond that, the average exit velocity of an Alzolay pitch ranks only in the 38th percentile.
If Alzolay can learn to get that sinker down and keep the ball in the park, he’s likely to mature into a reliable arm in 2022. That is not, however, negotiable; it has to happen for Alzolay to achieve the potential he – and the Chicago Cubs – believe he has.