Cubs pitching prospect Adbert Alzolay can’t help but think about what could have been in 2018 had injures not slowed him down and even cost him the end of his season.

“I was supposed to be in the bigs last year,” he said.

Alzolay could finally make his long-awaited big-league debut this year. He’ll take his first step toward that journey on Friday night when he makes his first start of the season for the Iowa Cubs.

“This year is going to be the year,” Alzolay said.

It could have been last season for the hard-throwing Alzolay who showed signs of his potential in his first season of Triple-A. In eight starts with the Iowa Cubs in 2018, Alzolay went 2-4 with a 4.76 ERA. During two of those starts, Alzolay went at least six innings and surrounded one run or less. In another, his last, his threw four perfect innings.

The biggest issue for Alzolay though: injuries.

He began the 2018 season in extended spring training after suffering an ankle injury. Then Alzolay came out of his May 29 start with the injury and never appeared in a game again. He was shut down with a lat strain.

He hoped the 2019 season would be different, but has already had one hiccup: He suffered a side injury while throwing a bullpen during spring training and was shut down for two weeks.

“(I) just felt something weird,” Alzolay said. “They just wanted to be cautious with that. So they shut me down.”

PREVIOUSLY:

Alzolay began the season in extended spring training, resting and then rehabbing, getting ready for the season. He finally appeared in a game on May 12, tossing four innings for Myrtle Beach. Despite allowing six runs (five earned), on seven hits, Alzolay said he still feels well. Most importantly, Alzolay said he’s 100% healthy.

“My pitches, my arm — everything is feeling good,” he said. “My fastball is coming out good too.”

There are still big expectations for Alzolay who is ranked the second-best pitching prospect in the organization and the fourth-best prospect in the system by MLB.com. The right-hander now just has to show that he can avoid the injured list and produce in Triple-A.

“The whole focus right now is just do my job and stay healthy,” Alzolay said. “If I’m healthy, I think I can help the team up there.”

The Cubs do too. Even after all the injuries and the already slow start his 2019 season, Chicago Cubs assistant general manager Randy Bush said recently that he believes Alzolay has a bright future ahead of him in the big leagues.

“He’s somebody that we have high hopes that he can be an integral part of our rotation when he’s ready,” Bush said.

Alzolay is hoping that could be soon. He said the last time he’s felt this well was during the 2017 season when he put together one of his best seasons yet, going 7-4 with a 2.99 ERA between Single-A (advanced) and Double-A.

“It’s been tough because my whole career has always been good and then last year, the whole year started wrong,” he said.

But Alzolay is trying to put that all in the past. He feels like his future looks as strong as ever. And it might be. Alzolay even made one small adjustment before the season started, speeding up his delivery a little bit.

"I was just watching my videos from 2017 and I just realized that I was a little slow last year," he said.

He hopes with that change and hopefully staying healthy, he can finally get to the big leagues. Friday will be his first shot to prove that.

"It's always awesome to be back here," he said.