In 2024, Brailyn Marquez will no longer be pitching for the Cubs organisation with his triple digit fastball.
This Monday, the left-hander signed a contract with the Houston Astros and was sent to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Marquez was formerly regarded by many as the Cubs organization’s best pitching prospect. Before the 2020 season, Baseball America placed him as high as the 37th best prospect in MLB, and he received much praise ahead of the 2020–21 season.
Lance Brozdowski of Marquee Sports Network placed Marquez third among all Cubs prospects going into 2021, just surpassed by Miguel Amaya and Brennen Davis (and ahead of guys like Adbert Alzolay and Christopher Morel).
After playing at the alternate site during the early portion of the season, he made his MLB debut in 2020. Towards the end of the brief season, Marquez played in just one game and gave up five runs in 0.2 innings against the White Sox.
Since his debut, Marquez, now 24 years old, has seldom been on the field in recent years. He didn’t throw in any games in 2021–2022 due to injuries and COVID episodes.
Marquez played in 23 games with the Cubs in 2023, 16 of which were with Double-A Tennessee. With 44 strikeouts and an astounding 38 walks in 30.2 innings, he had a 4.99 ERA.
Free agency was chosen by Marquez in November. In December 2022, the Cubs re-signed him to a minor league contract, but he was also free agent last winter.
