Chicago Cubs News: Jeremiah Estrada gets called up to the team

Around 12 hours after the Chicago Cubs' disastrous ninth-inning meltdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team made a noteworthy roster move by bringing up righthanded pitcher Jeremiah Estrada from Triple-A Iowa. Estrada, 24, had pitched six scoreless innings for the I-Cubs, surrendering only two hits and striking out seven batters.

Javier Assad, who has called up to make the start for the injured Jameson Taillon on Thursday, was optioned down to Iowa.

It felt like it was a matter of time before Estrada got the call back to the Majors. He has pitched very well in the Minors, sporting a 1.81 ERA, 1.1 WHIP, and 13.7 K/9 in 94.1 innings in his MiLB career. Last year he got his first taste in the Majors, pitching in 5.2 innings and giving up two earned runs on six hits while striking out eight and walking three. Not a big MLB sample size at all, but now he has a chance to build on that.

Calls from fans for the promotion of Estrada got louder after Michael Fulmer's ninth-inning fiasco on Thursday night. Fulmer has been up and down so far this year and has already blown several save opportunities. Thursday night's game was the ugliest of them, loading the bases and giving up a grand slam to James Outman.

Estrada is a promising arm and can help the Cubs shuffle things around on the pitching staff for the time being. It's too risky right now to let Fulmer continue to pitch in high-leverage situations. We could see Estrada being used in several different situational spots out of the pen. This pen and the roles are still a bit of a work in progress outside a few guys, and Estrada will have a chance to work his way into it.