Adrian Sampson (32‧ Chicago Cubs), who had a lot of expectations with a rather brilliant career, winning 6 major league wins in the season just before joining Lotte in 2020, did not achieve significant results in the KBO League.
He struggled to adapt to the KBO league, and eventually packed his bags with rather poor grades before renewing his contract. Sampson’s career seemed to be on the decline. But he had a weedy grit. After he signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs, he persevered and made a stepping stone to challenge the major leagues.
Sampson was called up in the middle of the 2021 season and played in 10 games (5 starts), leaving an impressive record of 1 win, 2 losses and an ERA of 2.80. He had no reason for the Cubs to send him out. Even in 2022, he wasn’t a full-time major leaguer, but he served him well. In 21 games (19 starts), he recorded 4 wins, 5 losses and an average ERA of 3.11, exceeding expectations.
The Cubs were a rebuilding team, and began to treat Sampson as a major force, who can be used in various positions such as starters and long relief. This year, I gave him a chance to compete for the starting rotation. Sampson is starting out in the exhibition game and is exploring the possibility. However, his performance in the exhibition game was not very good.
Sampson, who went out to the bullpen against San Francisco on February 26 and hit three home runs in 1⅔ innings, giving up four runs, failed to make a clear impression in his two subsequent starts. In the game against Texas on the 8th, he allowed 6 runs on 4 hits (3 home runs) in 2⅔ innings, and on the 13th against Milwaukee, he allowed 3 runs on 6 hits (2 home runs) in 4 innings. 안전놀이터
Although it is an exhibition game, it is difficult to get 10 hits in 6⅔ innings, and 5 of them were home runs. His earned run average of 14.04 is the worst among the Cubs’ starters.
The Cubs have Marcus Stroman, James Tyyon, Kyle Hendricks, Justin Steele and Drew Smiley ahead of them in the starting contest for now. Recruiting Tyyon as a free agent is a big piece in reinforcing the starting rotation. However, as the 4th and 5th starters are unstable, they continue to look for alternatives, and one of those candidates is Sampson. However, the results of the demonstration games are making it unclear even entering the opening roster.
In fact, Sampson did not perform well in spring training last year either. He appeared in three games, but his earned run average stood at 13.50, which hindered Sampson’s early-season spotting on the roster. It will be interesting to see what the Cubs bench will decide this year.