Tech, youth 'fast track' staff into new era

DENVER -- Nine years ago, Kyle Hendricks came to the Cubs as a pitching prospect in a Trade Deadline deal. Now the veteran leader of Chicago's rotation, he cracked a smile Thursday morning while discussing how much things have changed in development.

When Hendricks was a Minor Leaguer, there were no high-speed cameras or the seemingly endless amount of data and information available instantly now. Hendricks mostly relied on the eyes and experience of his coaches and catchers for feedback, and went from there.

"Anything you want to get better at is possible now, really," Hendricks said ahead of Thursday afternoon's 6-5 loss to the Rockies. "It doesn't leave as much up to the naked eye."

The Cubs are hardly alone in the advancements made on the player-development front in recent years. Having something like Chicago's pitching lab is now the standard around baseball. But the Cubs are pairing those leaps forward with a better foundation of arms than at the front end of the last rebuild.

One of the reasons the Cubs are holding out hope that this transition period will not involve a lengthy, painful rebuilding process is the potential of some of the coming arms. Over the next two months, specifically, Chicago will be continuing to evaluate Adbert Alzolay, with Justin Steele expected to return from Triple-A Iowa as a starter soon.

"We're going to map some things out here," Cubs manager David Ross said prior to Thursday's game. "[We'll] talk to all the starters, figure out exactly where [Steele] fits in. But yeah, we've got a plan. We'll communicate that to him and the rest of the group really soon."

The Cubs like the controllable (and affordable) foundation of Alzolay, Steele and Keegan Thompson. All three right-handers are 26 years old. Alzolay has had ups and downs in his first full MLB season, but he has also flashed plenty of potential. The Cubs broke Steele and Thompson into the big leagues as relievers, but both are stretching out as starting options at Triple-A.

That trio has decorated veterans like Hendricks, Jake Arrieta (Thursday's starter) and Zach Davies to offer veteran leadership down the stretch. Righty Alec Mills can do the same, and both he and Hendricks (signed through 2023 with an option for ‘24) fit into the ‘22-and-beyond picture as well.

Given the list of up-and-coming arms for the Cubs -- plus the payroll flexibility available beginning this coming offseason -- Hendricks said he believes president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer when he says this will not be a 2012-esque rebuild situation.

"Their development has skyrocketed just this year," Hendricks said of Alzolay, Steele and Thompson. "The fact that those guys are all on the fast track, and the guy we drafted [first-rounder Jordan Wicks], you never know, that could be quick. That gives it a lot of promise.

"You win with pitching and defense at the end of the day. If you have those guys and they're on the fast track like it looks like they are, it could be next year or the year after that these guys are just mainstays in the big leagues and start dominating."

Ross noted that the Cubs "will be creative" with the rotation over the final two months.

When Steele returns from Triple-A, one possibility will be for Chicago to shift to a six-man rotation. That would allow the Cubs, in turn, to ease Alzolay's innings down the stretch. Adding Thompson back into the mix will be a conversation for a later date.

"Things change really fast in our day-to-day," Ross said. "Making sure we're still keeping guys healthy is a priority for us and making sure guys can continue to compete."

The Cubs will also have to determine the best path forward for Arrieta, who exited after allowing four runs (three via solo home runs) in four innings on Thursday. The 35-year-old veteran and 2015 Cy Young Award winner has posted an 8.28 ERA over his past 14 turns, dating back to April 30.

Arrieta -- who took Alzolay under his wing starting in Spring Training -- feels he can be a resource and mentor for the younger arms.

“I'm sure we're going to have guys make some starts who are going to be a part of this team in the future,” Arrieta said. “It's just our job to help build their confidence and kind of help them along the way through these next couple months, because you know the organization needs those guys to step up and help build this team again.”

Like Hendricks, Arrieta joined the Cubs via trade in the early portion of the last rebuilding process.

Hendricks came to the Cubs as part of a July 31, 2012, deal that shipped Ryan Dempster to the Rangers. Arrieta arrived in the famous July 2, 2013, trade with the Orioles (for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman) that also netted the Cubs setup man Pedro Strop. All three were integral in building toward and winning the '16 World Series.

In the recent wave of Deadline deals that shipped stars Javier Báez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo to other teams, the Cubs acquired a pile of prospects. Included were arms like Caleb Kilian (via the Giants in the Bryant deal), Alexander Vizcaino (via the Yankees in the Rizzo deal) and Anderson Espinoza (via the Padres for Jake Marisnick).

"Maybe one or two of these guys," Hoyer said, "can be the next Arrieta, the next Hendricks, the next Strop, whoever that might be. There's a lot of prospects we acquired last time that no one's talking about. We nailed a few of those, and that had a massive impact on our championship."

And the prospects arriving now are entering a much better development infrastructure than the last time the Cubs were rebuilding.

"I mean, the only resources you had when you first came in," Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said, "were what the coaches saw and what the catchers saw. That's it. ... Now, we can make decisions so much faster. We can get information that just, it's truth. The data's providing it. The camera's showing it.

"It's not my opinion. It's not the catcher's thought on what he saw. It's what's going on. It's fact."