Josiah Hartshorn just ran away with the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year vote, grabbing a wild 66 percent of the fan poll. The 19-year-old outfielder/first baseman clearly made an impression, leaving catcher Owen Ayers to settle for 29 percent. But with all the buzz around hitters, there’s a massive question hanging out there: who’s the *pitcher* of the year? Because when you dig into the numbers, what some of these guys pulled off this season is seriously wild.
Baseball Is Absolutely Flying And No One Knows Why
Seriously, folks, you won’t believe these offensive numbers coming out of the lower minor leagues this year. We’re talking about a massive surge in offense at the Double-A level and below, and it makes you wonder what’s going on with the ball. The Southern League, for example, saw offense jump a staggering 28 percent over 2025. Yeah, twenty-eight percent! The Midwest League wasn’t far behind with a 24 percent increase, and even the Carolina League popped 17 percent. Compare that to the International League, which only saw a four percent bump, and you realize something was absolutely cooking in the lower levels. It makes an award like the Vedie Himsl Minor League Pitcher of the Year that much harder to gauge, especially when we know the Cubs’ farm system is stacked with position players, and some of their better pitching prospects were either hurt or couldn’t get it done this year. The award, by the way, is named after Vedie Himsl, a Cubs coaching and scouting legend from the mid-fifties all the way to 1999, who even managed the club to a 10-21 record during PK Wrigley’s “College of Coaches” experiment in 1961.
This Unsung Reliever Is Making Everyone Look Silly
So, in a season where minor league bats were basically on fire, one name is jumping off the page: left-hander Jackson Brockett. Look, normally you wouldn’t even consider a reliever for this kind of award, but Brockett is built different. The guy, who’s 23, actually pitched 79 innings in his professional debut. And get this: a bunch of his appearances were for three or four innings! He wasn’t even drafted, signed as a non-drafted free agent early this year after four years playing at Nebraska. But man, did he make that signing look like a total steal. He started out in Myrtle Beach, throwing 14.2 innings over five relief appearances and literally did not allow a single run. Zero! That kind of dominance gets you a promotion fast, and he quickly moved up to High-A South Bend, where he continued to shut down hitters, not allowing many runs either. He piled up 50.1 innings over 17 appearances there, showing crazy durability for a reliever.
So, when the ball is flying out of every park and hitters are putting up video game numbers, a pitcher who comes in and absolutely dominates like Brockett? That’s gotta mean something. It’s early in the award talks, but what a season for this guy. You gotta wonder how high he can go.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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