NEWSLETTER
Hayden Wesneski was the hero of yesterday’s finale and series-win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, coming in to clean up Jordan Wicks’ (little) mess in the 5th … and then tossing 4 shutout innings to save an over-used bullpen and help the Cubs win the game. But if you would have told me what his 24 hours looked like BEFORE he came into that game, I would’ve expected a disaster.
After the win, Taylor McGregor caught Wesneski on the field and had the good instincts to ask him what his last 24 hours were like, seeing as the Cubs made this roster move just before game time. And Wesneski’s response did not disappoint (full interview at the bottom of this post).
Taylor: Hayden, how much sleep did you get last night?
Wesneski: Whatever my flight was … whatever I got on the plane ride.
Taylor: Walk me through the last 24 hours and how you got the call that you were going to join the team here.
Wesneski: So yesterday, normal day in Iowa with the I-Cubs, we won in the 9th inning or whatever. The I go about my day, we had a day game today in Des Moines. And at 1am, my roommate, Matt Mervis, is knocking on my door and Matt’s like hey, you need to call Marty Pevey, the manager for Triple-A. I go “okay.” So I go get my phone, it’s missed calls, text messages, whatever. I call Marty at 1am, and he says ‘Hey buddy, you’re going to the big leagues.’ I was like (laughing) ‘Okay, I need to get my things together then.’
So I packed for an hour, tried to get some sleep, didn’t. My girlfriend is in town, she didn’t sleep either….So me and Colten Brewer leave at 4am get to the air port in Des Moines. We fly to Chicago because they don’t have any direct flights (to Arizona). Chicago to here (Arizona). I get here an hour-and-a-half before the game. And I threw.
A 1am wakeup from Matt Mervis. No sleep. Two flights. And 1.5 hours of prep before dominating the reigning NL champs in their house. Such is the life of an optionable pitcher, I guess. But seriously. Wow.
Again, in case you missed it, Wesneski was absolutely brilliant yesterday, not only helping the Cubs win that game (easily the most important player of the night), but also helping a very tired and overworked bullpen get some rest.
Craig Counsell even called it the Cubs best pitching performance of the year, and given all the context, it’s hard to disagree.
"I thought it was probably our best pitching performance of the year."
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 17, 2024
Craig Counsell on Hayden Wesneski. pic.twitter.com/7AECoKVU3k
Wesneski ultimately needed just 43 pitches to get through 4.0 scoreless innings. He threw 2 changeups, 18 four-seamers (topping out at 97.5 MPH) and 23 sweepers, which generated five called strikes and three whiffs. And they were generally nasty.
Hayden Wesneski, Wicked Sweepers. 🤢 pic.twitter.com/N3Kz9aKhpB
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 17, 2024
What. A. Stud.
Now, I’m not entirely sure what happens from here. With Wesneski throwing so much yesterday (it’s not just the pitch count, it’s getting down and up so many times), he’s going to be shut down for at least a couple days at best. At worst, he’s the guy they option out for Jameson Taillon (that’d be rough, but it might make the most sense). But after such a good start in Iowa (2.53 ERA over 10.2 IP) and everythig he did yesterday in his 2024 debut, it’ll be hard to justify sending him down. He had been on a starter’s schedule, though, so maybe he can be available for Saturday’s game as if it were is normal bullpen day, and from there, he can just stay in the ‘pen.
We’ll see what happens later today and break it all down then. For now, I just wanted to give Hayden Wesneski a little more love. That was an awesome performance and it came after a insane day of travel and no sleep.
