Cam Sanders admits he had good and bad thoughts when informed the Chicago Cubs wanted him to transition from starter to reliever after the Triple-A All-Star break last year.

Even now, amid an impressive camp performance in his reliever role, Sanders said he always wants to be a starting pitcher.

“But honestly, anything that gets me in the game, I’m cool with it,” Sanders told the Tribune.

Sanders is positioning himself to get an opportunity in the Cubs bullpen at some point this season. The Cubs are fortunate no team selected him in December’s Rule 5 draft after they did not put him on the 40-man roster to protect him.

The Cubs are still working through their opening-day bullpen options. Multiple spots remain in flux. The team has taken notice of Keegan Thompson’s decreased velocity, sitting in the low 90s. Their go-to multi-inning weapon last season hasn’t been stretched out, limited to an inning in each of his three Cactus League appearances. The Cubs also are not ruling out putting Javier Assad or Adrian Sampson in the bullpen rather than sending them to Triple A as rotation depth. Starters won’t be fully built up at the beginning of the season, which will put a heavier workload on the bullpen.

As a nonroster invitee in big-league camp, the 26-year-old Sanders has earned rave reviews from the Cubs.

“As a reliever you get to be like, here it is, I’m coming at you,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said to the Tribune. “It’s refreshing to see a guy go out there and challenge people and feel like he’s been aggressive the whole time.”

Sanders has given up only one run in 6⅔ innings this spring. He has 10 strikeouts and two walks over those five appearances. His electric fastball hit 99 mph during his outing Friday against the White Sox.

“You’re …read more

Source:: The Denver Post