Projected Chicago Cubs 26-man roster and ZiPS projections for 2022

The Chicago Cubs should have a really good pitching rotation for the 2022 season.

Pitchers (12)

Starting Pitchers (5)

• Marcus Stroman
• Kyle Hendricks
• Wade Miley
• Adbert Alzolay
• Alec Mills

The splash of the offseason thus far for the northsiders, Marcus Stroman, and the Cubs feels like a match made in heaven. The 30-year-old righty pitched well on a disappointing Mets team last season. Stroman compiled a 3.02 ERA and led the league with 33 starts with a 7.9 K/9. He’ll get vaulted to the front of the Cubs rotation ahead of Kyle Hendricks.

Speaking of, Hendricks had a rough 2021, posting a career-worst 4.77 ERA, but the Cubs rotation, as a group, finished with the fourth-worst ERA (5.27) in baseball. The 32-year-old posted a career-low 16.7 strikeout percentage while opponents squared up his changeup to the tune of a .268 average and eight home runs.

Wade Miley landed in the Cubs’ laps this offseason. Literally. After two seasons in Cincinnati, the Reds placed the 35-year-old on waivers in November. With the Cubs needing pitching help, the decision was quite simple.

Miley posted solid numbers last season, spinning a 3.37 ERA in 28 starts with a 6.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. If he posts similar numbers in 2022, you can’t ask much more from your No. 3 starting pitcher.

Predicting the back end of the Cubs rotation is tricky, but Adbert Alzolay is probably penciled in after a shaky full season’s workload. The 26-year-old was once considered one of the best Cubs’ pitching prospects, but he’ll need to work back toward that goal this season. In 2021, Alzolay posted a 4.58 ERA, serving up 25 home runs but also a 9.2 K/9.

Again, tough to predict, but Alec Mills probably gets another look as the No. 5 starter. He, too, had a rough 2021 campaign, posting a 5.07 ERA in 32 games, including 20 starts, allowing 16 home runs.

Bullpen (7)

• Codi Heuer
• Rowan Wick
• Scott Effross
• Manuel Rodriguez
• Brad Wieck
• Michael Rucker
• Keegan Thompson

Touching on a couple of the names above, Codi Heuer was part of the Craig Kimbrel deal with the White Sox last summer. The former sixth-round pick in 2018 posted a combined 4.28 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 67.1 innings.

Batters don’t square up Heuer very often, landing within the top-seven percentile of the league last year with a 4.5 barrel percentage. His secondary pitches are filthy, but batters hit a robust .336 off his fastball last year.

If he can fine-tune his primary pitch, Heuer can be an effective arm out of the bullpen for the Cubs in 2022.

Stepping into the closer’s role after the Kimbrel trade, Rowan Wick left a lot to be desired from the previous two years. In 2021, the big righty posted a 4.30 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 23.0 innings of work. Sounds good, right? Well, not exactly, as Wick had the propensity to walk a few batters (5.5 BB/9). If he can hone in on his control, the 29-year-old can make a complete transition into a permanent ninth-inning role.

Keegan Thompson had a terrific first half to the 2021 season, posting a 1.64 ERA in 22 appearances, including a spot start. However, the wheels fell off in the second half as Thompson spun a 6.20 ERA in 10 appearances, including five starts. The 26-year-old has terrific splits as a reliever, holding opponents to a .206 batting average in 37.0 innings of work. More importantly, Thompson limited batters to a .196 batting average with runners in scoring position.