First-round pick Conrad visits Cubs, Wrigley
Cubs first-round draft pick Ethan Conrad made his first trip to Chicago and Wrigley Field on Wednesday, getting a chance to check out the ivy with his parents.
He's been rehabbing a right shoulder injury since the spring, when he hit the ground hard while trying to make a diving catch, 21 games into his first season at Wake Forest. Conrad started college with two years at Marist.
“I'm starting swinging next week,” he said. “It's been just a lot of strength training, full body kind of rehab. It's been going well and it feels great. You've just got to be patient during it, that's been the biggest thing, but I feel really good right now.”
Conrad said he had a similar injury and surgery on his left shoulder in high school, so he knows what to do. Cubs scouting director Dan Kantrovitz said if not for the injury, he felt Conrad would have been a top-10 pick. The Cubs ended up taking him at No. 17.
Conrad has been at the Cubs training facility in Mesa since the draft in mid-July but does not expect to see any game action until next spring.
A native of Saugerties, New York, Conrad has some common history with Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw, who is from Massachusetts.
“We both played in the PGCBL, which is a summer league up where I live,” Conrad said. “My hometown has a team, the Stallions, I played there for two summers (in 2023 and '24). He played for Amsterdam (in '21), which was our rival, for one summer.
“When you play in that league, you hear the legends about how he did really good and hit all these home runs. So that's when I first heard of him. He said he has a lake house up there, so that's really cool.”
Strong arm tactics:
Willi Castro's throw to the plate Tuesday night measured at 93.4 mph, according to Statcast. He threw out Milwaukee's Brice Turang trying to score on a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.
Manager Craig Counsell said as soon as Castro let it go, he could tell the throw was going to be perfect.
“I was in the training room and we were screaming like little kids,” pitcher Jameson Taillon said. “Plays like that at Wrigley, especially, build the momentum and you can really feel it flip the game a little bit.”
Surprisingly, perhaps, Castro says no one ever tried to turn him into a pitcher, despite the powerful arm.
“Not really. My dad would not like that,” the Puerto Rico native said. “In Little League, I probably pitched a little bit. I really enjoy it, I like to go to the bullpen and see how they throw pitches.”
Castro hasn't been playing as much as he'd like since joining the Cubs in a trade with Minnesota on July 31. But he did hit his first home run as a Cub in Game 1 of the doubleheader, a game-changing 3-run blast to right.
“I feel like I needed that,” he said.
Taillon tuneup:
Jameson Taillon gave up just 1 run in 6 innings Tuesday in his return from the injured list. In theory, seven weeks off due to a calf strain might keep his arm stronger for he stretch run.
“Maybe there is a silver lining there,” Taillon said after the game. “My innings aren't crazy high, but at the same time, I feel like I'm built up to throw a lot of innings.
“More than anything, I thought we used the recovery time really wisely to make sure we were sharp and crisp and worked on some delivery things and weight room stuff. I think that's the real silver lining.”