Cubs sign righty pitching prospect Nico Zeglin

Photo courtesy: Long Beach State

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Sat Apr 27 12:15:08 GMT-05:00 2024

It's starting to look like the MLB offseason again, where the Cubs are adding players at a frantic pace. However, most of the players they are adding at this point are purely flyer-type deals aimed at becoming a depth piece within the organization.

After adding two Minor League pitchers in the last two days, the Cubs made it three in three days as Nico Zeglin has been signed to a Minor League deal by the Cubs and was assigned to Low-A Myrtle Beach.

Another Nico is in the system, which is a fun little tidbit to start with, but outside of that, who is Zeglin, and what can the fans expect from him? Well, for starters, Zeglin is a 24-year-old right-hander who pitched at Long Beach State University before signing with the Mexican League. That alone is an important note as the Mexican League talent is similar to the talent one would see in AAA, so at the very least, Zeglin is seeing some MLB-caliber players.

Before his time at Long Beach, Zeglin was the ace of the Gonzaga staff and ended his college career as the 408th-best prospect. Typically, when you fall in that ranking range, you tend to be drafted in the 13th-15th round range, but Zeglin ended up going undrafted, which is why he landed in the Mexican League to continue his career.

Seeing him go undrafted wasn't a huge surprise, but seeing him not sign with someone immediately after the draft was. Perhaps, in his mind, signing a Minor League deal as an undrafted free agent wasn't the best financial choice, so he chose to take a more lucrative professional deal in Mexico. It didn't come without a ton of work, but Zeglin is finally getting his chance stateside, and now the Cubs are curious to see what he can do for their team.

At 6-4 and 200 pounds, Zeglin possesses the physical attributes of a starting pitcher. His 2023 season with Long Beach State showcased his potential, as he finished with an impressive 2.38 ERA over 94.2 IP (15 starts), striking out 117 and walking just 27. His standout performance was a complete game shutout (10 K, 3 H, 2 BB) in May of last year, which further solidified his reputation as a promising player.

His overall performances didn't go unnoticed, as he was a first-team all-conference player and earned third-team All-American honors that season. Seeing great players come out of Long Beach State shouldn't surprise anyone, as current South Bend 1B Jonathan Long was a teammate of Zeglin in college. Long was drafted in the ninth round by the Cubs last season, and some are wondering if the scouts who scouted him last season also had some intel on Zeglin.

After going undrafted and mulling his future, Zeglin elected to continue his baseball career and joined the Independent League, playing in the Pioneer League. Once there, he continued to build off his impressive final season in college, making six starts that summer and going 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA. In those starts, Zeglin gave his team just under 30 innings of work, walking nine and striking out 39. The strikeout numbers stand out the most, as he was blowing hitters away more often than not.

Zeglin then took his talents to the Mexican League this season, where he played in one game and pitched well enough for the Cubs to come calling. He has now pitched 1/3 of an inning for Myrtle Beach, allowing one hit and striking out one. The next test for Zeglin is to continue improving from one outing to the next, with the hopes of moving up in the Cubs system. Given the talent he saw in the Mexican League, don't be shocked to see him in AA this season or even possibly AAA before all is said and done.

We don't have much to go off of his arsenal outside of a really good sinker that tends to sit around 93 MPH. Zeglin mixes in a nice change-up and a slider as his off-speed pitches, but he needs to work those pitches in more consistently to be at his best. This is a classic case of Jed Hoyer doing homework on a potential depth piece that can help this organization.