RHP Scott Effross Promoted, Available Saturday Night Against Sox

He won’t show up on any top prospect lists because his velocity isn’t very impressive and he was well under the radar before making a change to his delivery, but righty reliever Scott Effross has been shoving this season. After a very rough start following his promotion to Triple-A, the sidearmer has been shoving like nobody’s business and made himself into a legit option for the big league bullpen.

That is now more than hypothetical, as Effross has been promoted to Chicago after Jake Jewell was optioned to Iowa. The key has been getting used to the new mechanics the Cubs had him adopt mid-season in 2019 when it appeared he might have plateaued. He was placed on the IL and sent to Mesa to learn a whole new motion, then has been lights-out at each stop since.

Effross has a 3.64 ERA with 46 strikeouts and 10 walks in 42 innings with Iowa, and that includes giving up 13 earned runs in his first 14.2 innings. In 26.1 innings since, he has allowed just four runs with 29 strikeouts and eight walks. He’s capable of working multiple innings and can absolutely dominate right-handed hitters with that funky delivery, though he can mess with lefties as well.

If things work out, he could be part of the Cubs bullpen for quite a while.