MESA, Ariz. — Jaxon Wiggins’ first live batting practice of spring training provided a great challenge for the Chicago Cubs’ top pitching prospect.
On a backfield at the Cubs’ complex Friday, the 24-year-old right-hander faced off against first baseman Michael Busch and center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong. It provided a good gauge of how his four-pitch mix can play against big-league hitters. Wiggins’ stuff generated a couple of awkward swings by the pair of lefties.
After falling behind Busch in one at-bat, Wiggins, in his first big-league camp, battled back to work a full count before getting Busch to whiff at an offspeed pitch low and out of the zone.
“Those guys are super experienced, and they all have good tools, they know the zone, they know what they’re supposed to do, so going against those guys is really good for anybody,” Wiggins told the Tribune. “It definitely gives you confidence a little bit, but just try not to think about any of that, just doing what I do.”
Wiggins, a 2023 second-round draft pick, spent most of his offseason in Arizona working out at the Cubs’ complex. He focused on adding weight, estimating he added roughly 10 pounds of lean muscle to his 6-foot-6 frame, while continuing to hone his repertoire. He considers his changeup the lynchpin to his success and the implementation of a new slider grip at the beginning of last season — tweaking it to a spiked grip — gives it more of a bullet movement instead of a sweeper profile.
Wiggins, though, knows he needs to throw more strikes. He posted 4.1 walks per 9 innings between Low A and High A in 2024 and was almost at the same rate last season (4.2 BB/9) as he went through three minor-league levels. Although the walk rate wasn’t significantly different between seasons, Wiggins was encouraged by his 2025 performance. A 1.93 ERA in 10 starts with Double-A Knoxville, where he struck out 52 in 42 innings, earned him a taste of Iowa in September.
A shoulder issue sidelined Wiggins for a month last summer, preventing him from pitching in the Futures Game during MLB All-Star weekend.
“Obviously, it would have been fun to pitch in the Futures Game, I would have loved that a lot,” Wiggins said. “But it’s just one of those things that I had to take care of and make sure I’m healthy going forward and making sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Wiggins’ biggest asset to throwing more strikes this year will be more reps. After missing the 2023 season due to Tommy John surgery, he reached Triple-A Iowa at the end of the 2025 season, making three starts and throwing 9 2/3 innings.
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“That’s, I think, what will happen with Jaxon,” manager Craig Counsell said. “If you watch him, he’s throwing very professional appearances in his bullpens and his live (BP), very professional. He absolutely has the ability to do it. But the reps take it because you’re stacking on better pitch shapes, execution, better hitters as you move up. So you’re just stacking all these things up and one of them is better execution.
“That comes from consistency in your delivery, consistency in your mental process, confidence, maturity, it keeps growing. And I think for Jaxon it’s continuing to grow.”
The Cubs have shown a willingness to give prospects a big-league opportunity when the organization feels their performance forces a promotion. They’ve given Wiggins the same message that National League Rookie of the Year runner-up Cade Horton got last spring: You aren’t on the team to start the season, but what you show will tell us when you’re ready.
“Guys have freedom when they think that way, like, ‘I’m just going to go do my work, I’m going to keep doing what I do, and then my time comes, we’ll know,'” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said to the Tribune. “For the year he had and where he’s been trending and to be on the radar, he’s definitely in that group of guys we’re going to keep our eye on. But he’s also a guy we don’t feel like we need to rush because we are going to have a lot of those others (among our depth). But I’d love to see him force his way into that conversation.”
Wiggins isn’t looking too far ahead. He enters the season with 36 career starts in the minors and knows he has more to accomplish.
“I do have some goals, but nothing like trying to make it (to the majors) this year,” Wiggins said. “You can’t put a timeline on that. It’s based on your performance, and there’s a lot that goes into your performance and how you prep for that.”