From the Bend to the Bigs

WHO'S ON TRACK TO DEBUT WITH THE CHICAGO CUBS IN 2023

By Max Thoma

In the last couple of years the South Bend Cubs saw 22 former players dawn big league uniforms for the MLB debuts, including 12 during the course of the 2022 season. Ethan Roberts was the first on April 9 and as the season winded down Jared Young was the last on September 16.

The list also includes a couple bullpen arms in Nicholas Padilla and Jeremiah Estrada that started the season in South Bend and catapulted their way all the way to the bright lights of Wrigley Field.

Last year in March when I sat down to prognosticate about three former South Bend Cubs who could breakthrough into the big leagues I selected Christopher Morel, Nelson Velázquez, and Brennen Davis as my suitable candidates.

Morel made it up by the middle of May and, as was the expectation, became a fan favorite with his electric playing style paired along his always positive demeanor. Less than two weeks later Velázquez debuted. These are two right-handed hitting 23-year-olds with tons of pop in their bats; Morel finished fourth on the Cubs with 16 homers and in just 77 games Velázquez finished tied for 10th with six.

Davis, who started the year as the Cubs number one prospect (per MLB.com), never made it up but was hampered by a back injury during the season that required surgery. then tying for the most homers in the Arizona Fall League, and ultimately winning the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year Award, Mervis is on track to debut early on in the season and potentially heavily impact the Cubs 2023 season.

This year as I sit at Four Winds Field on a rainy Thursday in the middle of March I can’t help but be impressed by the list of potential former South Bend Cubs that could debut in 2023. It’s easy to predict another 10+ debuts this year and while I won’t discuss every potential riser, I’m going to again expandupon three individuals, while limiting myself to guys who appeared on the 2022 MWL Championship team.

Up first, Matt Mervis.

The former two-way player who went undrafted in the shortened MLB 2020 Draft burst onto the national scene last year. In his first pro season the lefty slugger hit just .208, with nine homers, 44 RBIs, and a slugging percentage of just .367 in Low-A Myrtle Beach.

We’ve seen many young prospects, especially left-handed batters, excel in South Bend after struggling in pitcher-friendly Pelicans Ballpark; but no one made the jump as seamless “Mash” Mervis.

The burly lefty produced many special moments throughout the season, with his most special South Bend contribution coming on May 10. Two days after his hitting streak halted at 13 games, Mervis delivered a laser shot over the right field wall that left the bat at 105 m.p.h. The two-run homer, his second long ball of the night, walked it off for the Cubs in a 9-7 thrilling win over Fort Wayne.

A week from that night Mervis found himself on the road to AA-Tennessee.

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After hitting .350 with South Bend and crushing seven home runs in 27 games, the question surrounding the Washington D.C. product was could he keep this streak of torturing opposing pitchers alive at a higher level?

I’ll let the numbers answer that.

Mervis launched 14 homers with Tennessee and drove in 51 runs in 53 games, all while hitting over .300. But he wasn’t done. On to AAA-Iowa. With the Iowa Cubs he demolished another 15 homers and the legend simply continued to grow.

Next on my list is Jake Slaughter.

I would have never thought this after 2021, but the 18th round pick from 2018 delivered a power surge in 2022 and with the Cubs fluidity at third base to start the season, Slaughter is waiting in the wings for a chance to show what he can do on a big stage.

You don’t see many 18th round picks pan out, let alone college position players. But Slaughter was the number one ranked player in Louisiana in high school and was a two-sport star who excelled on the gridiron and had many D-I offers to play football.

In two years at Louisiana State University, Slaughter appeared in 112 games. The versatile infielder and tremendous athlete hit just .255 though, with a slugging under .400, and 11 home runs.

Matt Mervis became a household name in 2022 if you’re a Cubs fan. When all was said and all was done, in 137 games the 24-year-old had tallied 36 homers, 119 RBIs, and 78 extra-base hits.

His 119 RBIs were the most in the minor leagues since Pete Alonso had 119 in the 2018 season; Mervis even matched Alonso with his 36 homers and finished the year batting 24 points higher with a .309 average.

After delivering the best minor league season for a Cubs farmhand since Kris Bryant, continued from previous page. able to make his season debut until May 11.

But the Cubs saw something in Slaughter, something they had seen from him in high school when they drafted him out of Ouachita Christian School in the 36th round in 2016. So the Cubs showed their commitment and interest in the Monroe, La. native again by drafting him, again.

However in three years, across four levels, Slaughter failed to impress offensively. Baseball America had named him the best defensive third baseman in the Midwest League following the 2021 season, but offensively through three years (217 games) the right-handed slugger tallied just eight round-trippers, 52 XBHs, and produced a sluggish .258 average.

It’s difficult to start your season late because hitters and pitchers, in this case, already had a month of live action and were getting into their stride, whereas Slaughter was starting the race from behind.

After 20 games it was time for the 25-year-old to head to the Tennessee Smokies. Even though the numbers weren’t great with South Bend, Slaughter found his swing and became ready to feast.

And wow was he famished.

Entering game one with AA, Slaughter now had 11 homers through 237 games in his career; with the smokies he blasted 20 in just 86 games. Now all of a sudden he was crushing baseballs, walking more, and driving in runs in droves.

On June 22 Slaughter gave his team the lead with a single in the sixth and then produced an epic walk-off grand slam in the 10th. As the season winded down on September 6 he destroyed a two-run bomb to center to put Tennessee on the board in the first against Pensacola. Then he delivered another late-inning grand slam, this time in the eighth.

Then everything changed.

The offseason is about making adjustments and that’s what both Mervis and Slaughter did with their approaches in the winter after the 2021 season.

Slaughter came back renewed and recharged, unfortunately though he wasn’t

Slaughter will start the season in AAA and there’s no question he’s in store for a big-league debut in 2023, barring any injury. His hard work and development is a testament to him, Cubs coaches, and the family that raised him.

There are many others that could debut this year that didn’t play with South Bend last season, like starting pitcher Riley Thompson; infielders Chase Strumpf and Andy Weber; catcher Miguel Amaya; relievers Cam Sanders, Ryan Jensen, Danis Correa, and Ben Leeper. Plus even guys that were on South Bend last year like Bailey Horn and Jordan Wicks.

But my focus will turn to Zac Leigh.

Over the course of a five-year collegiate career at Texas State the 6-foot, 170-pound Leigh developed from a two-way player who primarily pinch ran and pitched in relief, to a Friday night starter.

His ERA in his final season was 5.03 in 15 starts under the lights.

Drafted as a 23-year-old who just spent five years playing college ball, the pressure was on for a first-year pro player much older than most other Cubs draftees.

After two short appearances in the Arizona Complex League, Leigh was off to join South Bend on their final road trip of the season. The right-hander from Kingwood, Texas allowed one run in five innings of work spread out over three appearances with the Cubs.

Leigh threw nearly 90 innings his fifth year at Texas State so the Cubs were cautious with his workload in 2021. That was going to change in 2022 when Leigh would be able to attack an entire minor league season.

Similar to Slaughter, Leigh got out of the gates late due to an injury and didn’t appear in a game until June 1.

Leigh came out firing and in 17 appearances out of a dominant Cubs bullpen he used his whizzing fastball and one of the best sliders I’ve ever seen to limit opponents to a .186 average. In 23 innings he gave up just six earned runs, good enough for a 2.35 ERA. Outside of one poor outing at Quad Cities in which he gave up four runs in one frame, Leigh was nearly untouchable. His slider, which frankly makes it look like he’s throwing a whiffle ball, baffles batters as it gyrates and seemingly transports from one location to another. That pitch led to continued success in AA-Tennessee.

Leigh’s fiery and fervent mound presence, combined with his lethal repertoire and experience taking the ball in critical games both as a starter and a back-end reliever, coalesce to create an electric pitcher primed and ready to get outs at the MLB level.

One thing's for certain, with how loaded the Cubs farm system is right now and with South Bend surging and winning a title in 2022, the debuts from former players are just going to keep on coming, and 2023 just might be the year with the most debuts yet.