Cubs Recall Adrian Sampson, Place Daniel Norris on 15-Day IL

The Cubs have recalled right-handed pitcher Adrian Sampson from Triple-A Iowa and placed left-handed pitcher Daniel Norris on the 15-day injured list with a left index finger strain. This is Sampson’s third stint with the Cubs this season and he has yet to allow a run in 5.2 innings out of the Cubs bullpen.

In his last outing on June 19 against the Braves, he became the first Cubs reliever to toss at least 4.2 shutout innings with one or no baserunners allowed since Dave Roberts on August 23, 1977 vs. the Giants. In addition to his work with the Cubs, Sampson owns an 0-3 record with a 3.81 ERA in eight games (six starts) for Triple-A Iowa this season.

Norris is 0-4 record with a 7.24 ERA and 40 strikeouts with 18 walks in 24 appearances for the Cubs this season. He has allowed at least one run in five of his last seven outings, including four or more in three of those. The lefty’s 5.73 FIP and 3.59 xFIP indicate that he’s been better than what the main stats show, but a .245 BABIP allowed says he might actually be experiencing some good luck.

The biggest issue for Norris has been hard contact, as he’s allowed seven homers over just 27.1 innings. That comes from surrendering an astronomically high 16.7% barrel rate, third worst among 377 MLB pitchers with at least 20 innings this season. The league average barrel rate is just 7.8%, so Norris is more than double that so far.