NEWSLETTER
In a series that featured neither Shota Imanaga nor Justin Steele, the Chicago Cubs’ starting pitchers allowed 0 runs against the Brewers. I do not care what you might offer about the youth of the Brewers’ lineup right now, that is IMPRESSIVE. Hayden Wesneski, Jameson Taillon, and Javier Assad were outstanding. All of them.
In fact, they were so outstanding that they did something that hasn’t been done by a trio of Cubs starters since April of 2019:
That’s a pretty good group by comparison (and also, two of those games came against a historically bad Marlins club). What a series for Wesneski, Taillon, and Assad. I’ll remember this one.
I particularly liked hearing about just how well the Cubs’ starters pitched from the opposing manager, Pat Murphy:
“We ran into three guys who pitched very, very well.“
And on Javier Assad, in particular, Murphy was effusive in his praise. I particularly liked this line: “He nibbles the right way.”
Since we’re on Assad, and just how awesome he is, how about some praise from his own manager (Sun-Times):
“He’s just got weapons that don’t let the hitter get comfortable ever. Right now, he’s using those weapons very well. The two-seam fastball is a very good pitch, but he’s got enough other weapons there along with that to keep hitters really off-balance ….
“Javy feels very much in control of what’s going on out there. He’s never out of counts. He’s got all those weapons that he can deploy, and that gives him a lot of confidence.”
I’ve said it a bunch of times, but I’ll keep saying it since he keeps statistically making it happen: Javier Assad has been the best starting pitcher in baseball by ERA since June 20, 2023.
