Today we look at the Cubs’ one-time closer, who is trying to re-establish himself.
Salt Lake City native Porter Dene Hodge, one-time Cubs closer, has lost his confidence and the strike zone. One begets another, but it is unknown which was first.
What is known is that he’s ineffective at present. He walks people regularly. In 2024, he was magical and intimidating, striding purposefully to the mound with his chest out, his muscles rippling, and his moustache twitching as he contemplated another win,
another save, a couple more strikeouts. His numbers were damn good, and the world agreed that the Cubs had found their new closer. He was 3-1 with a minuscule 1.88 ERA, earned 1.3 bWAR (0.9 fWAR), had nine saves in 43 innings pitched. His HR/9 was 0.4. He was a rookie. The sky was the limit.
But there were signs. Hodges’ BB/9 was 4.0. He finished 17 games and only saved nine. He didn’t blow any saves but he did allow a few runs.
He hit the floor running, but 2025 was a complete disaster. He ended up pitching in Iowa after posting a 2-2 record, a 6.27 ERA, 2.5 HR/9, 4.9 BB/9, and two saves in ten opportunities. This was in just fifteen less innings than in the previous year. His H/9 climbed to an alarming 9.3, from 4.0 the previous year. Was this his basement? Or was it the garden apartment?
At 6’4”, 230, nobody more looks the part of dominant closer than Porter Hodge. If he rights himself, he could be an asset to the ballclub, firing flaming fastballs on the regular, picking up save opportunities as part of a closer/setup triumvirate with the redoubtable Hunter Harvey and the intimidating Daniel Palencia. Heat, heat, and more heat. Yeah, bases on balls, but that’s what those smoking barrels do sometimes.
However, those guys can be hurt, and that’s what happened. Hodge suffered two separate injuries during the 2025 season, starting with a left oblique strain in mid-May that caused him to miss over a month, and a right shoulder impingement that returned him to the 15-day injured list on July 9, 2025.
He’s supposed to be healthy. But he didn’t open anyone’s eyes in his first appearance and he could very well be a one-year wonder.
Hodge needs to throw strikes, and a lot of them, I suspect, to make the team this year. I’m not optimistic. Those are the kind of injuries that can result in a change of mechanics and the line between success and failure in the major leagues is vanishingly thin, and the competition is armed and ready.
He just turned 25. He has the tools. He has time. Of course we will await developments. But the odds grow longer and their teeth get sharper the longer he takes.
Projections lean to the 2024 side as his level. A tick above in HR/9 and BB/9 perhaps, but 40 innings or thereabouts in the big leagues. I am unmoved. He has a long road to hoe.
