This Cubs prospect is showcasing electric stuff in Double-A

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Cubs knew they might be getting a steal when they selected Arkansas right-hander Jaxon Wiggins in the supplemental second round of the 2023 Draft.

The 6-foot-6 hurler had flashed first-round talent since his days as an Oklahoma high schooler and was looking dominant in the fall heading into his junior season with the Razorbacks before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Two years after signing an over-slot $1,401,500 bonus with the pick the Cubs received as compensation for losing Willson Contreras in free agency, Wiggins is in the midst of a breakout season and has cemented his place as a Top 100 prospect leaguewide -- No. 91 overall.

The 23-year-old still has his electric stuff, with a fastball up to 99 mph, and is answering some of the biggest questions about his control. Fully healthy for the first time in years, his confidence is at an all-time high, and the results are easy to see: a 2.02 ERA with 79 strikeouts to just 28 walks in 62 1/3 innings.

"Last year being my first half season out of surgery, it's a little tough coming out of surgery," Wiggins said. "You always have stuff in the back of your head, but I always keep a great mindset, a positive mindset, and always have confidence. And moving forward from that, just gaining more and more confidence and everything, all my pitches are better, being in zone more, it's easier when all that stuff is happening together."

Walk rates had consistently held Wiggins back in the past. He issued free passes at a 13.6 percent rate as a freshman and 13.8 percent rate as a sophomore. After returning from surgery in 2024, he was up to a 14.2 percent walk rate across three Minor League levels.

One key to his rise to become the Cubs' No. 5 prospect is that he's cut that consistently this season -- to 12.4 percent at High-A South Bend and 10.4 percent since his promotion to Double-A Knoxville. While that's still higher than average, the fact that he's improving against tougher competition -- paired with the highest strikeout rate among Cubs Minor Leaguers (31.7 percent) -- shows he's on the right track.

A slight change to his repertoire has also enabled him to throw more strikes. In previous seasons, his best secondary pitch had been a slider that averaged 85.6 mph and featured so much depth that it didn't consistently land for strikes. This spring, the Cubs had him switch to a spike grip that he can throw harder (87.6 mph) and with more bullet spin. It doesn't move nearly as much but still generates a 44 percent whiff rate.

"They came up to me and agreed that they should try to get me to throw this pitch with this grip, and I used to try to throw a spiked curveball. I could never throw it," Wiggins said. "And so I was just like ‘Oh, it's a spike.' Having that in the back of my mind was like I've never been able to throw like something with a spike, but I guess it's different from the curveball and slider. And I just trusted it. From then on out, it's gotten better and better and better."

Wiggins' 2025 season has faced some small setbacks. His shoulder wasn't feeling great after his June 20 start, and the club decided to give him some extra time off to recover. He returned for a two-inning start on July 19 -- with five strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed -- and will continue to ease back to action.

Still, his emergence has been key for a Cubs farm system that is thin on pitching. Heading into the season, only six of the team's Top 30 prospects were pitchers, and one has already graduated (Cade Horton) while three have been injured for much or all of the season (Brandon Birdsell, Brody McCullough, Drew Gray).

Wiggins feels like he's becoming even better than the pitcher he thought he'd become before his Tommy John surgery. And the Cubs are thrilled with their player development success.

"He's moved from what I consider ‘out-athleting the competition,' he's just a supreme athlete with big powerful pitches and stuff to becoming an actual refined professional pitcher," Cubs director of player development Jason Kanzler said. "And that's a great combination, that's a great development for him. He's not a thrower anymore. He's a pitcher. And with his power stuff, that's very exciting."