Inside The Cubs

What Were the Best and Worst Chicago Cubs Debuts of 2022?

With Hayden Wesneski's appearance Tuesday, the Chicago Cubs have had 15 players make their Major League debuts in 2022.
Ben Silver|
What Were the Best and Worst Chicago Cubs Debuts of 2022?
What Were the Best and Worst Chicago Cubs Debuts of 2022?

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With the debut of Hayden Wesneski on Tuesday, every Chicago Cubs rookie was put on notice. It's difficult to top what the newest member of the Cubs did in his first start, making MLB history in the process.

Wesneski's five shutout innings and eight strikeouts is undoubtedly the best debut for any Cub in 2022. 15 Cubs made their first Major League appearance in 2022, some were better than others, and some were far, far worse than others. Is there anyone who can touch Wesneski?

Despite the Cubs' paltry record, there is far more competition for the best than the worst.

One challenger is Brandon Hughes. He's provided strong late inning relief for the Cubs since mid-season, his debut a preview of things to come. Hughes was called up to replace the arm of Conner Menez and did so with impressive results in his first game.

Hughes faced six batters, he struck out five and walked one, preventing a single ball from being put in play. This outing was so dominant, Hughes' FIP the next day was -1.09.

It's not often a you'll see a Major League stat below 0, but Hughes managed to keep his FIP there after his second shutout outing just two days later, striking out two over 1.2 innings.

Cubs rookies seemed to be attracted to shutout debuts. Javier Assad, who like Hughes has performed very well in limited Major League innings, also began his career with a shutout.

Across 4.0 innings, Assad scattered four hits and four walks. Unfortunately, he was one strikeout short of touching four in that column too. Despite his second start of five more shutout innings, the walks count against Assad's favor. He can't boast a single category better than Wesneski's debut.

With only nine big league plate appearances to his name, it's easy to forget Narcisso crook ever played for the Cubs, but his two hit debut on June 30 was superb, despite a GIDP. In his first game, Crook picked up his first hit, extra base hit, RBI and run scored from the leadoff spot, impressive, but beatable.

The only true challenger for Wesneski's top spot is Christopher Morel. His strong 2022 will net him a starting role in 2023, but his May 17 debut netted him a start the next day.

In his very first Major League at-bat, pinch-hitting in the eighth inning, Morel worked a 3-2 count against Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Chase De Jong before crushing a high fastball deep onto Waveland Ave. So excited was Morel that he forgot to touch first rounding the bases.

It's hard to compare pitchers and hitters, especially debuts like those of Wesneski's and Morel's. The former drawn out over an hour and five dominant innings, the latter over in one explosive moment. It's fair to say Wesneski had the best pitcher debut, and Morel had the best debut of any Cubs hitter.

The worst debut, however, has no contest. Leading all National League pitchers in ERA with no minimum sample size is Brendon Little.

Often times managers will ensure their rookies make their debut in low leverage situations. Coming up from the minors is hard enough, debuting in a big spot is almost impossible.

Little had to contend with both in a very hostile Toronto environment. Entering in the sixth to preserve a one run lead, he hit the first batter he faced, then allowed a swinging bunt single to the next hitter.

Teoscar Hernandez though, gave Little a true Major League baptism with a go-ahead three run home run.

Little got two outs and was then lifted for Michael Rucker. He was demoted two days later. Hopefully the 26-year-old will have another chance at MLB play sometime in his career, but his singular appearance was undoubtedly the worst Cubs' debut of 2022.

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Ben Silver
BEN SILVER

Ben Silver is deputy editor for Inside the Cubs. A graduate of Boston University, Ben formerly covered the Philadelphia Phillies for PhilliesNation.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenHSilver.

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