Jon Lester remembers what it meant for him when he was a kid pitcher in the Boston Red Sox system.
“When I saw guys from the organization get called up, it was like, `OK, there’s a chance for me to be there,’ “ the Cubs’ veteran left-hander said. “ `There’s a chance they’re not going to trade me. There’s a chance that I will be a Red Sox or a Cub or whatever.’ “
Never mind that Theo Epstein once tried to trade Lester from the Red Sox farm system to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez in 2003 before the players’ union nixed the deal over proposed salary reductions.
Lester laughed at that part of the story, but the point stands, he said: “It’s an organizational boost.”
That’s a big part of what Adbert Alzolay means to this franchise – what he could mean, anyway, with a run of success.
As the touted prospect makes his first career big-league start Tuesday, Alzolay called this major-league experience a dream come true.
But for an eighth-year front office that has failed miserably at developing homegrown pitchers, the right-hander is a pent-up fantasy – its unicorn.
That’s why Cubs president Theo Epstein, the Boston expatriate, tends to temper his enthusiasm when asked about Alzolay – even after a debut last week in which Alzolay retired 12 of the first 13 he faced in a four-plus-inning relief appearance.
“I don’t make too much of the symbolism of it,” said Epstein, who nonetheless praised the scouts and player development instructors who helped Alzolay get this far.
“But I’m not going to make any grand proclamations because one guy came up and threw one good game,” Epstein said. “We need a lot of guys up here contributing, and we appreciate the help he provided.”
It’s difficult to overstate what an established, productive homegrown starting pitcher would mean to the Cubs right now – whether that’s Alzolay or fill-in-the-blank.
Their inability to develop pitching already forced them to dig so deep into their pockets for free agent help in recent years that last year’s dual whiffs on Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood hamstrung their payroll flexibility into this year.
Alzolay is the only pitcher of 19 on the current roster – injured list included – who wasn’t acquired from outside the organization.
In 37 postseason games under Epstein’s regime, not only homegrown pitcher has thrown a pitch.
And when Alzolay takes the mound Tuesday for his start against the National League East-leading Braves, it will mark just the fifth start made by an Epstein homegrown Cubs pitcher. Only one (Jen-Ho Tseng got a second chance, and none pitched more than four innings in a start.
If he looks even close to what he looked like in his debut, and if he can sustain some semblance of success, he could be an impact player for this team this year, a cost-efficient option for the rotation going into 2020 – not to mention an inspiration for the players in the system behind him and an injection of youth and exuberance for a veteran big-league clubhouse.
“It’s all of the above,” said Jason McLeod, the Cubs’ top scouting and player development executive. “There’s a feel-good to it, there’s just a dollars and cents part of it, if you want to call it that, just organizationally going forward. We know we need it.”
Not that it’s fair or reasonable to put all those expectations and hopes on one 24-year-old pitcher.
First impressions suggest that Alzolay – who is back from lengthy lat-injury issues the last two seasons – has the kind of attitude to help mitigate what he acknowledges is a “responsibility” as potentially the first homegrown starter.
He also has a mature and rare fastball-curveball-changeup mix that pitching coach Tommy Hottovy calls “intriguing” for the damage he might do in this age of extreme swing-and-miss rates.
“The sky’s the limit for this kid,” Hottovy said, “not only with the stuff, but just his makeup, the way he carries himself. He’s a young kid, but he’s smart, he’s bright, he handles himself well.”
Now all he has to do is make his dreams come true – and his franchise’s.
Drab Four
- Three homegrown pitchers originally acquired and developed by the current eighth-year front office have made four starts total for the Cubs:
IP ER K/BB W/L
Sept. 29, 2016 Rob Zastryzny 3.2 0 4/2 ND
Sept. 14, 2017 Jen-Ho Tseng 3.0 5 6/1 ND
May 8, 2018 Jen-Ho Tseng 2.0 3 3/0 ND
June 25, 2018 Duane Underwood 4.0 1 3/3 L
