Should the Chicago Cubs change career path of injury-prone top prospect?

The Chicago Cubs find themselves in a bit of a dilemma when it comes to their top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins.

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The hard-throwing 6-foot-6 righty is starting to give off the distinct vibe that he may not be durable enough to be a full-time starting pitcher.

In early April, he was pulled from his second start of the 2026 season for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs with what was initially described as a “sore arm.” Later, the diagnosis was a more specific “right elbow inflammation.” He had been on the shelf ever since, until his recent two-inning outing at the Arizona Complex League.

A history of injury

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Last season, he had to be rested out of concerns regarding arm fatigue. The Cubs organization also watched over his work closely, applying a cap to innings pitched to limit the wear and tear on his arm. Despite working under watchful eyes, he posted a 2.19 ERA in 78 innings with 97 total strikeouts over three different levels.

Wiggins came to the Cubs via 2023 second round draft pick with a ton of potential, but also with an arm that was still in repair mode following Tommy John surgery earlier that same year.

Realistically, though, the Cubs’ top pitching prospect should be past the point where the team needs to watch his arm health so diligently and obsessively. But it seems like every time a corner is turned, an setback rears its head.

Wiggins came to spring training this year as a non-roster invitee and turned some heads, despite getting lit up a bit in the limited mound time he got. Unfortunately, his regular season never quite got off the ground due to the arm issues.

His potential to pitch at an elite level is what makes his health dilemma so vexing.

“A lot of explosiveness,” Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins told reporters in the offseason, regarding Wiggins’ game, “(with) a breaking ball that’s going to miss bats and a fastball that’s going to miss bats. He’s turned that up into the upper 90s and into the 100s. It’s really just about landing them and being consistent with the command.

“He’s just one of those guys that kind of oozes potential. It’s just a matter of corralling all of it. There’s a lot of paths for Jaxon. It could be as an upper-end starter if he’s able to command. It could be a guy you see in a bullpen at some point. It could be both.”

An elite closer in the making?

At some point—and fairly soon—the decision has to be made whether he’s got the physical makeup to be a full-time starter going deep every fifth game.

A possible pivot could be to take him out of the rotation entirely and make him a full-time closer.

His power approach and swing-and-miss stuff profiles well for a closer gig and it could be argued that the stress on his arm would be less with twenty-or-so pitches as a bullpen asset every third day as opposed to eighty-plus pitches every fifth day as a starter.

Obviously, there is just so much more value to a frontline starting pitcher than a closer. For the Cubs, especially, Wiggins is seen as the last of the homegrown elite arms for awhile. Chicago would very much like to see their guy become the next Cade Horton and excel at the big league level.

But Wiggins also stands to be the next Cade Horton in the sense that his arm could give in, leaving the Cubs with a damaged 24-year-old coming off two major arm operations very early in his young career.

If the team looks at things from that angle, a move to the bullpen may be the wisest course of action.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-jaxon-wiggins-from-starter-to-closer/