Scouting Report: Jordan Hicks

Summary

Jordan Wicks, Chicago Cubs left-handed pitcher, suffered a left forearm radial nerve irritation in late February and was placed on the 15-day injured list before the regular season. He began rehab assignment starts on April 18 with the Iowa Cubs. While his first two rehab starts showed promise (3 scoreless innings and 2⅔ scoreless innings respectively), his recent performance has deteriorated significantly. In his last two outings against Triple-A St. Paul, Wicks allowed 12 runs over 5⅔ innings with multiple home runs allowed. His advanced metrics during rehab are concerning, ranking in the bottom 15% among Triple-A pitchers across multiple categories including xwOBA (.379), expected batting average (.305), expected slugging (.526), barrel rate (13.6%), strikeout rate (13.8%), and zone-swing rate (82.6%). As of May 16, 2026, Wicks was activated from the IL and optioned to Triple-A Iowa with a 5.48 ERA and 1.78 WHIP through 21.1 innings in rehab. He remains available as a call-up option if the Cubs' rotation depth is tested further.