Ethan Roberts last pitched for the Chicago Cubs on April 29, 2022, on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers. Now, more than two years later, the right-handed pitcher is back in the majors, joining the Cubs to start the team’s weekend series where he last threw a pitcher in the big leagues.
Roberts, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Tennessee Tech, made his first Opening Day roster back in 2022, and appeared in nine games during the month of April.
Unfortunately for Roberts he was shut down in early May because of shoulder inflammation and after a rehab outing at Triple-A in June the right-handed pitcher learned that he needed Tommy John surgery.
Roberts missed the rest of the 2022 season and did not appear in the minor leagues, missing the entire 2023 season as well. Last November, the Cubs non-tendered Roberts, but the team did bring him back, signing the pitcher to a minor league deal. The comeback was on for Roberts and on May 11, he was back in game action, pitching a scoreless inning in the Arizona Complex League as part of a rehab assignment. The righty was then put on the Tennessee Smokies at Double-A, where he made one appearance before getting assigned to Triple-A Iowa on May 17.
Cubs fans who have been following Roberts’ story since his elbow surgery were starting to notice that Roberts wasn’t just back to pitching, he was dominating opposing batters. After the first handful of scoreless appearances with the Iowa Cubs more fans started to take notice, especially with the bullpen struggles on the big-league club. Fans wanted someone to turn to for hope at Triple-A and Roberts was doing his part, trying to earn another opportunity.
Roberts was called up by the Cubs on Friday and hopefully he can be half as good as he was down in the minors in his first competitive action since 2022. Prior to his promotion, Roberts pitched 15 scoreless innings down on the farm, with 18 strikeouts and 8 walks, while only allowing 6 hits. He held hitters to a .122 batting average and had a 0.93 WHIP in 14 relief appearances.
That Ethan Roberts sweeper is the real deal. We saw a glimpse of it when he was up with the Cubs back in 2022.
Welcome back to the Cubs, Ethan!
