Jordan Wicks (born September 1, 1999) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Wicks attended Conway High School in

Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...

, where he played

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. In 2018, his senior year, he went 11–1 with a 0.86 ERA, and finished his high school career with a school record 1.39 ERA. Undrafted in the

2018 Major League Baseball draft The 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) First-Year Player Draft began on June 4, 2018. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was determined based on the reverse order of the 2017 MLB season final standings. In a ...

, he enrolled at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

. In 2019, Wicks' freshman year at Kansas State, he started 15 games and posted a 6-3 record with a 3.61 ERA, and was named the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

Freshman of the Year. He set freshman program records with 86 strikeouts and innings pitched. As a sophomore in 2020, he started four games and gave up one earned run over 26 innings for a 0.35 ERA before the college baseball season was ended early due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. He spent that summer playing in the Northwoods League for the

Rockford Rivets The Rockford Rivets are a baseball team in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The league's only team based in Illinois, their home games are played at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park. History Following the demise of the ...

, compiling a 0.52 ERA with 52 strikeouts over innings. Prior to the 2021 season, he was unanimously named the Big 12 Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year. For the 2021 season, Wicks went 6–3 with a 3.70 ERA over 14 starts, striking out 118 over innings, earning All-Big 12 First Team honors.

Professional career

Wicks was selected by the

in the first round with the 21st overall selection of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. This makes Wicks both the highest and the first ever first round draft pick to come out of Kansas State's baseball program. He signed for a $3.1 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. Wicks made his professional debut with the South Bend Cubs of the High-A Central, pitching seven innings while giving up four earned runs and three walks while striking out five. He returned to South Bend to open the 2022 season. In mid-July, he was promoted to the Tennessee Smokies of the Double-A Southern League. Over 24 starts between the two teams, he went 4-6 with a 3.80 ERA and 121 strikeouts over innings. He returned to the Smokies open the 2023 season. In late June, he was promoted to the

Iowa Cubs The Iowa Cubs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. They are located in Des Moines, Iowa, and are named for their Major League Baseball (MLB) affiliate. The ...

of the Triple-A

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

. In 20 starts between the teams, he went 7-0 with a 3.55 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 91 and 1/3 innings. On August 26, 2023, Wicks was officially recalled by the Cubs to make his first career start against the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

Personal life

Wicks is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, having stated "God is the rock of my life. He is always there and he always loves me no matter what happens on that field.“

References

External links

Kansas State bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wicks, Jordan 1999 births Living people Baseball players from Arkansas Chicago Cubs players Iowa Cubs players Kansas State Wildcats baseball players Major League Baseball pitchers People from Conway, Arkansas South Bend Cubs players Tennessee Smokies players