Chicago Cubs: A long fall from the top for heralded prospect

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Entering the season, Oscar De La Cruz ranked as the Chicago Cubs number three overall prospect. Now, his outlook seems drastically changed after a suspension.

As most fans of any Major League franchise are aware, the worst thing to read about your team is a player’s drug-related suspension. Unfortunately for the Chicago Cubs and their fans, it has become a reality.

Oscar De La Cruz has been a name for Cubs fans, and baseball fans alike, to keep an eye on as he makes his push toward the Show.

Sadly enough, it will have to wait as De La Cruz tested positive this past week for a masking agent, known as furosemide. It is, if people remember, the same masking agent which Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano used, leading to the same length suspension.

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

A future on hold

For De La Cruz, a promising future is now on hold. Coming into the 2018 season, De La Cruz ranked as a top pitching prospect for the Cubs. After working his way through Rookie and Low-A levels, De La Cruz made the jump to High-A last season.

His first stint in Low-A brought with it an impressive showing. De La Cruz posted an incredibly low 2.84 ERA in starting thirteen games. The following season, before making another jump, De La Cruz posted a very low 1.08 ERA in two starts. He worked his way up to Single-A where he posted a 3.25 ERA in six starts.

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Last season, De La Cruz found his mojo once again. To emphasize, De La Cruz still produced a 3.46 ERA in twelve solid starts for High-A Myrtle Beach. After reaching asinine strikeout rates while in Low-A and Single-A, De La Cruz began to find his strikeout pitch again, as he saw it increase back up to 20.3 percent, from 16.7 percent the season before. De La Cruz walked just 5.6 percent of batters he faced at this level.

Struggles with Tennessee this year

Fast forward to this season. De La Cruz earned a promotion to Double-A Tennessee. Sadly, however, he has not seen the best success. In sixteen starts, the 23-year-old posted a porous 5.24 ERA. His FIP increased from 4.20 to 4.65. Meanwhile, his xFIP has also jumped up from 4.22 to 4.73.

One silver lining about it is the number of strikeouts De La Cruz is recording. Through the sixteen games, De La Cruz has seen his strikeout percentage increase slightly. That being said, his walks are also up from last season. As promising as it was to witness the continued development of De La Cruz up to this point in the season, further development will have to wait awhile as he serves out his suspension.

Questions to ponder

The sad and unfortunate thing that is important to realize in instances such as this one is simple. De La Cruz will face a significant backlash along with his 80-game suspension. Additionally, De La Cruz will also lose out on significant developmental time. This will likely slow his ascent to the bigs.

According to reports, De La Cruz could find himself with the opportunity to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, which would be a big positive for him as he can continue to showcase his ability moving into the 2019 campaign.

Additionally, after top overall prospect Adbert Alzolay found out he will miss the remainder of his season with a strained late muscle, De La Cruz had a possible window open to further develop his repertoire in hopes of continuing that progression to the major leagues. With this in mind, the window is indeed closed for the time being.

Expectations moving forward

Oscar De La Cruz should find himself back on a pitchers mound in the future. With this in mind, the prospect of an 80-game suspension certainly is seen as a daunting one, not only for De La Cruz but also for the Cubs organization.

If for whatever reason, De La Cruz is not able to find his way back, it would be a big blow to the Cubs plans within the rotation as he is a name which can be considered as a robust rotational possibility a few years from now.

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Above all, Cubs fans and the team should continue to hold their head up for De La Cruz and his hopeful expected to return to baseball next season. Likewise, he is an particularly talented arm who will most certainly bring a great addition to the clubs future rotational plans. Notwithstanding though, it must be remembered that De La Cruz will have to work that much harder if that dream is to become a reality.

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