Chicago Cubs News: Adbert Alzolay impresses in showing

The Chicago Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay was very good on Wednesday night, looks to settle depth questions in the bullpen.

The Chicago Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay was phenomenal on the mound Wednesday night for Game 2 of the doubleheader. That’s very important for the rotation because they’re without Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood. Quintana might be back by this weekend, and there’s no timetable for Chatwood. 

Also, he got optioned back to South Bend–but he will be back. And the numbers don’t lie. Alzolay had five solid innings, allowing one walk and six strikeouts. He allowed two hits, one run and no earned runs–with an aLI (Average Leverage Index) of 1.30. Not bad for a 2020 debut.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs betting heavily that arms can carry them to their next championship
• 3 roster battles the Cubs will answer by the end of this season
• Cubs have a new late-inning shutdown arm in young Brandon Hughes
• After the Cubs traded him, Mychal Givens has been a hot mess for the Mets
• Cubs might have uncovered a diamond in the rough in Franmil Reyes

"“That’s a guy that’s gonna pitch big innings for us this season,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “He’s a huge depth piece that we have, and you see tonight what he’s capable of.” h/t Tim Stebbins, NBC Sports Chicago"

Alzolay has been working on a new pitch–a two-seam fastball. He’s getting greats results with it, and he feels like it’s made him a better pitcher. While five of the curveball, the one other was a changeup.

"“I feel like the work we’ve been putting in for the last five months is really paying off right now,” Alzolay said."

While he was sent back to South Bend, he’ll return. The cancelation of the MiLB was tragic, but South Bend opened up a whole new light for the ‘taxi squad’. They have one catcher (who will serve as a bullpen catcher), and a combination of two positional players, two pitchers–or both.

It’ll be interesting how the taxi squad plays out. Alzolay already has significant numbers pitching off that. And Tyson Miller had his struggles but will provide depth in the future. The circumstances are different. The Cubs have seven positional players available–so the pitchers see the hitters frequently.

It’s 2020. What did you expect?