Brandon Hughes #31

Brandon completed his first Major League season in 2022, making his Major League debut on May 17 vs. Pittsburgh....Owns a career 5-3 record with a 1.96 ERA (20 ER/91.2 IP), four saves and 124 strikeouts in 58 career minor league games....Transitioned to a pitcher from an outfielder in 2018....Spent the first two seasons of his professional career (2017-18) as an outfielder, batting .241 (127-for-528) with 26 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 51 RBI in 150 games....Was drafted by the Cubs in the 16th round of the 2017 draft out of Michigan State University.... As a junior at Michigan State in 2017, earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors...led the Big Ten and set a school record with 30 stolen bases....Graduated from Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, Mich., where he was twice named First-Team All-State, All-Region, All-League and All-District.

2022

Brandon made his Major League debut in 2022...he went 2-3 with a 3.12 ERA (20 ER/57.2 IP), eight saves, eight holds, a 1.09 WHIP and a .200 opponents' average (42-for-210) in 57 outings with the Cubs... Ranked second among all Cubs relievers in games played, and third in saves and strikeouts (68)....Held right-handed hitters to a .183 average (23-for-126), while lefties batted .226 (19-for-84) against him....Pitched 16.2 scoreless innings in 10 minor league outings between Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa before having his contract selected by the Cubs....During his Major League debut on May 17 vs. Pittsburgh, struck out five batters, becoming the fourth reliever in Cubs history (since 1901) to record five-or-more strikeouts in their major league debut (last Adbert Alzolay, 5, June 20, 2019).. According to Elias, he became the first Cubs pitcher in the expansion era to strike out each of the first four batters of his career....Went 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA (1 ER/10.1 IP) with 12 strikeouts in 12 games in July....Earned his first career win on July 1 vs. Boston, tossing 1.0 scoreless inning in the Cubs' 6-5 victory....Tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with three strikeouts, recording a hold in the MLB at Field of Dreams Game on Aug. 11....Aug. 18 in Baltimore, notched his first career save (0 ER/1.0 IP).