CINCINNATI – Once Cubs catching prospect Miguel Amaya got the news that he’d been selected to play in the All-Star Futures Game on Friday morning, he quickly texted congratulations to the other Cubs prospect to make it.
And then he delivered one more message to Adbert Alzolay: “Hopefully, you stay out there and don’t come back.”
“That’s the whole point,” said Azolay, the Cubs’ promising rookie pitcher. “You just want to stay here.”
By Friday, the right-hander already had earned a second big-league start, Monday at Pittsburgh.
And just in the matter of a few hours after that, his odds of sticking past Monday seemed to take a dramatic and unexpected turn in his favor, with the left side injury that forced starter Cole Hamels from Friday’s start.
Alzolay, 24, said before the game that a long-relief appearance and starting debut so far have him “feeling really confident right now” for his next assignment.
“Talking to these guys here has helped a lot,” he said. “Having guys like [Kyle Hendricks] next to you during the game, just talking to you about stuff – he’s really good. And I’ve been following [Jose] Quintana, too, watching him, his routine. It’s pretty awesome.
“There’s a lot of things that you learn real fast here from guys,” he said. “Our starting rotation to me is one of the best in baseball right now, if you go name by name. It’s crazy.”
Alzolay, one of just four homegrown pitchers under the Theo Epstein regime to make a start, will join Jen-Ho Tseng as the only homegrown pitchers to make more than one.
He has given up only two earned runs – both on solo homers – in 8 2/3 innings (2.08 ERA).
