With a double-header against the Washington Nationals on tap this coming Saturday, the Chicago Cubs will have an extra 25-man roster spot to play with for a day. In order to keep their rotation set, the Cubs will call up RHP Dallas Beeler, and he will make his big league debut as the starting pitcher of the first game of said double-header.
Beeler is already on the 40-man roster, so no other moves will be necessary. His next turn in Triple-A rotation would have taken place on Saturday, making him an obvious choice for the call-up.
While it was certainly convenient for Beeler to get the promotion, he is also a legitimate prospect with some solid upside. The 25-year-old RHP has been in the Cubs’ system since 2010, and has shown steady production throughout his rise through the minors.
Beeler really burst onto the prospect scene this past offseason, as he was selected by the Cubs to participate in the Arizona Fall League. Against some of the top prospects in all of baseball, Beeler was impressive, and entered this season as the 24th best prospect in a loaded Cubs’ minor league system.
While pitching for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs this season, Beeler has posted a 3.48 FIP, and has struck out an impressive 43 batters to only 15 walks. He consistently uses a heavy sinking fastball which brings him a ton of groundball outs. Beeler is a smart pitcher with good command on all of his pitches. He does not have top of the rotation upside, but he is a good bet to become a solid back of the rotation guy.
While this is certainly far from the excitement that a Kris Bryant or Javier Baez call-up will bring, Beeler is a legitimate starting pitcher prospect, who can make an impact at the big league level very soon. He may not be a future star, but this could be the first start of many that Beeler makes in a Cubs’ uniform.