Adrian Sampson is Quickly Losing His Job with Cubs

Most of the starting pitchers heading into spring training knew their role on the Cubs, but right-hander Adrian Sampson didn’t have the same comfort knowing that he was going to be slotted into the starting rotation even after posting a 3.11 ERA in 104.1 innings in 2022. No, Sampson has been one of three pitchers trying to prove he’s worthy of the fifth spot and so far he’s losing the competition.

Sampson made his third spring training appearance on Sunday, as the Cubs faced off against one of their division rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers. Sampson breezed through the first inning, working around a HBP, but then the second inning arrived and the Cubs righty was once again hit hard.

In his first spring training outing, Sampson allowed four earned runs on four hits, that included three home runs hit by the San Francisco Giants. In his second appearance in spring training, earlier this week, Sampson gave up three more home runs and six earned runs against the Texas Rangers.

Meanwhile, Hayden Wesneski has struck out 11 batters in 8.2 innings and no earned runs in three spring training starts. On Saturday, Wesneski pitched four perfect innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. So, when it comes to a competition, Sampson was already falling behind entering Sunday’s game and he didn’t help his case much at all.

It is definitely not a good sign for Sampson that his best effort so far in spring training is allowing three runs on six hits, including two more home runs.

Those two home runs by the Brewers made it eight home runs allowed by Sampson in his first 5.1 innings in spring training.

Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Cubs because not only do they have Wesneski proving he deserves the rotation spot, there’s also Javier Assad still showing positive signs, too, and a few other guys waiting to get their chance again like Caleb Kilian. This is just kind of unfortunate for Sampson because he came into spring training looking to establish himself as a solid back of the rotation pitcher and now things are trending toward the 31-year-old beginning the season in the rotation for the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A.

At this point, if the Cubs do pick Wesneski for the rotation, which how can they not right now anyway, then you can’t really justify Sampson getting one of the bullpen spots on Opening Day, especially when you consider that his track record shows he’s had problems giving up home runs.

The results for Sampson were good in 2022 with the Cubs, but there was always some luck involved. That’s what happens when a pitcher has a low strikeout rate and has to rely on getting weak contact to be successful because his stuff isn’t overpowering or nasty enough to fool hitters.

We’re now halfway through spring training and the two main guys competing for the fifth starter role are going in opposite directions. As things stand now, Hayden Wesneski is winning and Adrian Sampson is losing.