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Could it really be happening? Is Edwin Jackson finally … well, Edwin Jackson again?
The Chicago Cubs are sure hoping so, mostly because they’ve got some $52 million dollars over four years banked on it happening. See, up until this point, you could make a pretty easy argument that Jackson had been the biggest free agent bust in 2013, having posted a brutal 6.27/1.61 ERA/WHIP though six starts in April and unsurprisingly going 0-4 in the process.
Okay, so that record isn’t really looking too much better at 1-6 headed into play on Saturday; though, considering the team he plays for, perhaps it was always going to be that way this season.
Still, despite his latest outing being yet another loss for the team — this time to the New York Mets by a 3-2 score — the Cubs should have plenty of positives to find in the defeat.
Things may have started on rocky waters with a David Wright homer in the first inning, but at 6.2 innings pitched and allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out four, Jackson had not gone this deep into a start in 2013, and he only needed 91 pitches to get through it.
It wasn’t until Matt Harvey drove in the eventually winning run in the seventh that really dealt the dagger to Jackson’s day of work, but going toe-to-toe with one of the best is never easy, and the 29-year-old managed to do so for most of his start.
Friday’s game was just his second quality start of the season, but more importantly, it followed another solid outing (but not technically a QS) against his former team, the Washington Nationals. The righthander now has a much more Jackson-like 3.75/1.17 ERA/WHIP over the past 12 innings, dropping his season numbers to 5.76/1.52.
You can expect those numbers to continually coming down, too, as not a whole lot has changed significantly about his advanced numbers that would truly give an insight into his struggles.
He’s giving up a few more ground balls (50.6 percent vs. 44.1 career) and is stranding runners at at career-low 57.8 percent rate despite having a solid 2.19 K/BB, so meddling from the baseball gods on balls in play is definitely a possibility here (as is defense, obviously).
No, Jackson won’t be an ace, but expecting his rest-of-season numbers to be closer to his 3.86 FIP isn’t unreasonable either. If the Cubs can get 20-plus additional starts of what he’s done in his last two, that whole ‘bust’ thing will be all but forgotten by the time summer rolls around.
