MESA, Ariz. — Cubs left-handed prospect Brailyn Márquez arrived at spring training camp Monday, after a COVID-19 infection delayed his report date.
Márquez, who is vaccinated, said he’s feeling good now, after testing positive about two and a half weeks ago. He was symptomatic but has since recovered. Márquez quarantined in the Dominican Republic, his home country.
“It really isn’t frustrating for me [personally], moreso the possibility of affecting the team and the organization by not being there, being ready for them when they need me,” Márquez said through team translator Will Nadal.
Márquez went through something similar last season, which delayed his arrival in camp. Between recovering from COVID-19 and then sustaining a shoulder strain, he was sidelined for the season.
That time, he said, he was shut down during a month-long quarantine period.
“Then when I started ramping up again practicing throwing, I felt [the injury],” he said. “So, I don’t really know where it came from. It could have been from that layoff.”
He’s focused on avoiding a related injury this time around.
“I’ve had a full year just to continue to work on my body,” he said, “build up, make sure that if this happened again, which it did, I’d be ready once I was able to start pitching again.”
There’s been plenty of buzz surrounding Márquez, the Cubs’ No. 2 prospect on mlb.com, for the past few years. The left-hander made his major-league debut in September 2020, showing some control issues but touching triple digits with his fastball velocity.
When asked, Cubs manager David Ross said Márquez would his role, after the lefty began his minor-league career as a starter but missed last season,
“Let’s just give him the the freedom to develop how he needs to develop,” Ross continued, “and not put any labels on him.”
‘Step on it’
Cubs starter Wade Miley took a cautious approach to building up his workload for spring training, not knowing until a few days before the report date when camp would begin.
“I can’t ramp up, stop, and then ramp up again,” Miley, 35, said Monday. “Then I’m toast.”
Miley threw about 30 pitches in a bullpen session Monday. He hopes to throw to a plastic stand-in batter in his next session and face real batters the time after that. Ross has yet to announce Miley’s first spring training start.
“How much time we got left?” Miley joked. “ I need to step on it a little bit.”
It’s still unclear how many pitches Miley will be able to build up to by opening day. But last year, he logged four innings in his final spring training outing and then threw 78 pitches in his first regular season start.
Said Miley: “I feel pretty confident I’ll be able to make that jump.”
