Report: Cubs Starter Thompson to be Activated This Week

A 26-year-old minor leaguer, few knew the name Keegan Thompson at the start of the 2021 season. Drafted in the third round of the 2017 MLB Draft, Thompson's name was spoken by Chicago Cubs talent evaluators, insiders and few others.

But bursting onto the scene that year, the rookie righty dazzled at every step. Across six starts, 32 appearances and 53.1 innings, Thompson posted a 3.38 ERA. Rarely struggling aside from his first two appearances as a starter in August, Thompson's name was suddenly on the lips of every Cubs fan.

Could he anchor a future rotation?

2022 has shown Thompson to be a reliable starter, perhaps not frontline-pitcher, but he's undoubtedly one of the better backend pieces in the National League Central.

Across 17 starts and 104.1 innings Thompson has a 3.97 ERA, a figure that was as low as 1.99 on Jun. 2 and 3.16 on Jul. 26. But dealing with the largest workload of his career and an injury listed as lower back tightness, Cubs management thought it best to keep their newfound rotation piece healthy in a lost season.

It was apparent something plagued Thompson, across four August starts before his Aug. 19 shutdown, his ERA ballooned to 8.44.

Thompson, finally deemed healthy again, made a rehab appearance Sept. 16 for Triple-A Iowa, he allowed one run, striking out four and walking one across 2.1 innings. It was his first minor league run allowed since the Arizona Fall League in 2019 after a 0.00 ERA in 2021 at Iowa.

Now, manager David Ross sees Thompson ready to return according to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. Initially, Thompson will return back to the role in relief that he occupied at the start of both 2021 and 2022.

Ross said commented on Thompson's availability to pitch out the rotation, "Things change daily, obviously. We’ve seen that happen.”

But with only 15 games left in the season, there isn't much time to build Thompson back up as a starter. His role for 2023 though, is not yet set in stone. Thompson still has time to reinforce his chances at cracking the rotation next year, or blow them altogether.