Cubs’ 2020 fourth-round pick is a gigantic flame-thrower with a highly ironic name

Luke Little can hit 105 on the radar gun. And he’s not little at all.

The Chicago Cubs made a feel-good move when they used their first-round pick in the 2020 MLB Draft on a hometown kid, shortstop Ed Howard. That’s far from the last of the noise Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer set out to make during this week’s festivities, however. In Thursday’s fourth round, the North Siders nabbed a hard-throwing Texan named Luke Little.

Luke’s not like the other boys. He’s 6-foot-8 and his fastball can touch 105.

The baseball gods are funny sometimes.

Luke Little has an interesting name for one of the tallest players in the MLB

Still don’t trust the gods? Well, Little arrives in the MLB via San Jacinto College in Texas, the same juco program that once boasted a pitcher named Roger Clemens.

You can bet that the Rocket wasn’t hitting this kind of merciless, nuclear fission-level velocity at that point in his career. He also wasn’t a lefty.

Standing 80 inches tall, Little will stroll into rookie ball already looking like some kind of comic book character. After all, the only MLB player listed taller than 6-foot-8 last year to make an appearance was Brad Wieck. For what it’s worth, he also plays for the Cubs, and he’s also a left-handed pitcher.

Indeed, those gods must be crazy. In a few years’ time, we absolutely need to see gigantic lefty Little throwing seven innings at Wrigley and handing the ball off to gigantic lefty Wieck. David Ross will have to stand on a ladder for those mound visits.

And if the skipper says something slick and Little refuses to leave a game, it’s hard to imagine any recourse there — unless Ross is curious about what it feels like to have your spine collapse like a telescope.

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