Couple of Cubs Prospects Are Back From Injury

There have been plenty of great storylines to follow this year down in the minor leagues for the Chicago Cubs and now a few top-level prospects who had been out with injury are returning to action.

It has been a pretty rocky ride for shortstop Ed Howard ever since he was taken in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft by the Cubs. The right-handed hitter struggled in his first season in the minors, dealt with an injury, and then in 2022 Howard missed most of the year after undergoing season-ending hip surgery and since then the shine has worn off on the once highly-touted prospect.

Back in spring training, Howard was back on the field in the Cubs complex, but he remained in Arizona once the regular season started, getting ramped up in extended spring training. That is until now, as the South Bend Cubs announced on Tuesday morning that Howard has been added to their active roster.

Howard last played on May 10, 2022 with South Bend.

As a Cubs fan, it is tough not to compare Howard to other players that were taken after him back in 2020, and then you see how his first couple of years have gone and you at least understand why some have soured on Howard.

The shortstop slashed .225/.277/.315, in 302 at-bats, with four home runs, striking out 98 times and walking 18 times in his first 80 games as a pro. Obviously the hip injury was awful because it forced Howard to miss most of 2022, and we now have to see if he can come back with the same athleticism he had prior to the injury. On a positive note, it did look like Howard was starting to turn the corner right when he suffered the freak injury last year.

Howard’s first nine games in 2022 playing with the South Bend Cubs weren’t good at the plate, but from April 20 through May 10, (14 games) the right-handed hitter went 16-for-50 (.320 batting average) striking out only nine times and drawing five walks.

Overall through his first 103 games in the minor leagues, Howard has slashed .229/.287/.315, hitting five home runs with 117 strikeouts and 27 walks in 419 plate appearances.

It obviously sucks that Howard missed most of 2022 and we don’t know how he will play coming back from the hip surgery, but if we want to look at other prospects who came back after a devastating injury early in their careers, we can look no further than Pete Crow-Armstrong.

In 2021, PCA also had a season-ending surgery in May, as he went down with a shoulder injury. He was traded to the Cubs a couple months later, returned in 2022 and has rocketed up top prospects list ever since. So hey, fingers crossed that Howard can follow in those footsteps.

The South Bend Cubs are also welcoming back right-handed starting pitcher Luis Devers, who was named the 2022 Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

In 2022, Devers split the season in the lower levels of the minors and he dominated, posting a 1.91 ERA in 117.2 innings with 122 strikeouts. He made 8 starts and 3 other relief outings with South Bend and was even better, recording a 1.05 ERA in 51.1 innings.

So, Devers, who has also been in Arizona ramping up after spring training, should get a few starts with the South Bend Cubs before he hopefully makes the jump up to Double-A.