Austin, 34, spent the past six seasons with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He originally signed with the NPB after spending parts of four big league seasons with the Yankees, Twins, Giants and Brewers, during which he posted a .219/.292/.451 batting with 33 home runs in 583 innings at the plate.
While Austin showed plenty of power over his relatively limited MLB tenure, he was far too prone to strikeouts, accounting for an uncanny 36.9% of his career appearances in the majors. He has radically cut back on strikeouts in Japan and has been especially productive over the past two seasons, combining for a .299/.370/.559 slash with a 10.3% walk rate versus a 19.2% strikeout rate.
Obviously, Austin doesn’t face as strong competition in the NPB as he does in the MLB, but it’s still a significantly more encouraging strikeout rate. Even though it can be reasonably expected to move back up a few points in North American football, it is unlikely to practically double; Austin seems to have made clear gains in terms of contact and field selection.
For now, the well-traveled veteran’s MLB comeback is on hold. The Cubs signed him to a one-year contract worth $1.25 million before the winter, putting him on the 40-man roster. The hope was that he could spell Michael Busch against tough lefties after Busch hit just .207/.274/.368 in left-on-left matchups last season (and .230/.295/.366 in his career). Austin also has a lot of experience in the outfield at cornerbacks and could have appeared there at times or as a designated hitter against lefties.
Perhaps that role still awaits him once he has sufficiently recovered from his knee injury, but a definitive timetable is harder to pin down. In the meantime, non-invitees are having fun Chas McCormick, Dylan Carlson And Michael Conforto now have a better chance of breaking camp with the club.
Counsell also revealed that he was left-wing Jordan Wieken has been delayed by inflammation of the forearm, but the team has already ordered an MRI which showed no structural damage to the ulnar collateral ligament of the left leg. It is unclear when he will participate in competitions.
The 26-year-old Wicks is a former first-round pick and top prospect, but has been pushed far down the depth chart for the Cubs, who will open the season with Edward Cabrera, Cade Horton, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon And Shota Imanaga in the rotation. Just Colin Rea is back to hold a swing role and could get the first crack at the spot start if necessary. The Cubs have that too Javier Assad And Ben Brown on the active selection while ace Justin Steele should be back from last year’s UCL repair sometime in the first few months of the season, barring any setbacks.
Wicks currently sits somewhere around eighth or ninth on the rotation depth chart. He only pitched out of the bullpen in the Majors last year (8 1/3 innings), and that role could give him a better chance to eventually gain some staying power on the big league roster. He has thrown 95 big league innings over the past three seasons and boasts a measly 5.21 earned run average with a sub-par strikeout rate of 18.5%, but solid walk and groundball rates of 7.5% and 43%, respectively. Last year, he posted a 3.55 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate in 71 Triple-A frames (16 starts, four relief appearances).
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