3 likely candidates to start for the Chicago Cubs on Thursday

2. Ryan Jensen

The Cubs may decide to look deeper into their system and pluck Ryan Jensen out of AA to make his major league debut. The 25-year-old right-hander currently ranks 28th on the Cubs' top 30 prospect list and the Cubs drafted him in the first round of the 2019 draft. Although his command is an issue (13 walks this season) he hurls a two-seam fastball that tops out at 98mph.

Jensen is the only player on the Tennessee Smokies roster that is also on the 40-man now that Ben Brown has been promoted to Iowa and catcher Miguel Amaya was called up to the active roster on Tuesday. Jensen has put up ok numbers this season, with a 4.00 ERA over 5 starts with 23 strikeouts in 18 innings. He would be on normal rest having made his last start on Saturday where he tossed 4 innings. The biggest thing Jensen has going for him is that Miguel Amaya, the main catcher for the Smokies this year, was just called up to the big leagues. However, the Amaya move was probably made because Yan Gomes is likely to enter concussion protocol after taking a bat to the head on Monday night.