As spring training wrapped up, the Cubs’ starting pitching depth seemed impressive. Colin Rea and Ben Brown, both with starting history, were in the bullpen. Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks, both young pitchers with some MLB experience, were waiting at Triple A. The team had also signed veterans Vince Velasquez and Kyle Wright as non-roster invites to camp and seemed like solid emergency depth.Then the injuries hit. First, Cade Horton went down for the season. Then Matthew Boyd went on the injured list, the first of two stints he’s had this season. Edward Cabrera hit the shelf with a blister issue and left his last outing with hand cramps, though he looks healthy enough to make his next start. Jameson Taillon is on the IL with a left hamstring strain and isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break.“Injuries are part of the game. They’re part of the challenge,” team president Jed Hoyer said. “Some seasons you skate through a little bit, some seasons you don’t. We haven’t. But we have to fight through it. We have to find different ways and be creative. This is part of it. It wasn’t through a lack of preparation. We thought we had real numbers there. But a bunch of injuries took care of that.”Rea, Assad and Brown are now in the rotation. Wright had a setback while working his way back from injury, and neither Velasquez nor Wicks, who struggled in his two big-league starts, has been effective enough at Triple A.And remember that talk about who moves out of the rotation when Justin Steele comes back? If he were ready, there would be no need for a debate, but a setback in April pushed his return date from early June to mid-August, at the earliest.“We can maybe agree that you can never talk about having too much pitching,” Hoyer said. “I think we went into the season thinking we had real numbers. The modern game takes care of that really quickly and has really tested our depth.”One name not mentioned much lately has been top prospect Jaxon Wiggins. Had he stayed healthy — he went on the shelf with elbow soreness after two Triple-A starts — maybe the flamethrower would have made it to the bigs by now. Instead, he’s slowly working his way back.“He’s gotta do a build-up,” Hoyer said. “You can’t rush that. You’ll just add another injury if you rush that process.”Wiggins started a Complex League game on Monday and is expected to start for South Bend on Sunday. After that, assuming all goes well, he’ll return to the Iowa Cubs, where he started the season. It’s been a slow process, as Hoyer indicated it needs to be. Before his two innings with the ACL Cubs, he hadn’t seen game action since April 4.Over the last two months, Wiggins has fallen off some prospect radars. Out of sight, out of mind. Make no mistake, though: When he’s healthy, he’s one of the more intriguing pitching prospects in the game. Wiggins has one of the best fastballs in the minors with elite carry, and when he’s at his best, it sits at 98 and touches triple digits. He also has a developing changeup and a strong curveball.Beyond just logging innings, Wiggins needs to continue to pound the zone. His walk rate has consistently been above 10 percent in the minors. Showing a touch more command would go a long way. But he misses bats at such a strong rate that he can still thrive with an above-average walk rate.That type of talent is tantalizing. And it’s obvious why people would love to see Wiggins in the big leagues sooner rather than later.“Everyone wants the instant gratification of, oh, he’s back in some role,” Hoyer said. “But we have to let that process happen.”Hoyer said Wiggins is “responding well” to getting back in game action. The Cubs know how good Wiggins could be in either a bullpen role or in the rotation. But as Hoyer said, being patient is important. Another injury doesn’t help anyone. Still, Wiggins could be an option at some point later this summer. For a team desperate for arm talent, a prospect as special as Wiggins has to be an exciting possibility.Jun 21, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms