Today we look at the Cubs’ right-handed relief pitcher, who is diminutive in baseball terms.
Ethan Michael Roberts, 5’10”, 180 lbs, was born in Sparta, Tennessee 28 years ago, and has been in the Cubs’ system for quite some time, first surfacing in 2022 for a small coffee. He got into five games and picked up a hold and a save in 5.1 innings. He was drafted by the Cubs in the fourth round in 2018.
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He was injured and spent 2023 rehabbing, surfacing again in 2024 when he had a decent season, throwing in 21 games (26.2 IP), earning a 3.71 ERA, averaging a strikeout an inning, and not giving up an alarming number of home runs or bases on balls.
He’s still underwater lifetime, having amassed a grand 0.2 bWAR ( 0.5 fWAR) despite positive WAR in both cases in 2024. And so it’s kind of a mixed bag. We don’t know for sure where he’ll end up but I’d say the strongest likelihood is Iowa, though projections think he’ll do some time in The Show as well.
He throws a sweeper, cutter, and sinker. Once in a very great while he throws a four-seam. In 2022 he had a curve, but has since abandoned it. A break-glass arm, it looks like to me. His track record isn’t so great. His sweeper does have the highest horizontal break, so there you go.
It remains to be seen how Ethan Roberts will impact the Chicago Cubs bullpen.
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