Cubs Sign LHP Alex Troop from Kane County Cougars to Minors Deal

The Cubs may not be making noise on the trade market yet, but they continue to scour independent ball for depth relievers. Their latest addition is 27-year-old lefty Alex Troop, who had been playing for the Kane County Cougars. An Aurora, IL native, Troop was a ninth-round pick by the Nationals in 2017 out of Michigan State and played in the Washington organization for seven seasons without getting a call to the bigs.

Alex Troop is a local player who played for Marmion Academy in Aurora, IL. Had a really nice debut for Kane County with 16 K and no walks in 10 innings. https://t.co/Ju4wNsUudl

— Greg Zumach (@IvyFutures) May 18, 2024

After putting up strong strikeout numbers with very few walks, it appears as though he ran into some trouble last season at Double-A and Triple-A. The latter was a very abbreviated stay, so not much to take from that. Troop has an over-the-top delivery and an upper-80s fastball with a few okay-ish secondaries, so maybe the Nats were tinkering with a few things to get more out of him in terms of velo or stuff.

As with most other moves of this sort, it’s a no-risk flyer on a guy who gives a different look. Troop will likely be deployed to Iowa, though he might get a little run at Tennessee first.