MiLB Player of the Week Spotlight: Cubs' Jordan Nwogu
This browser does not support the video element.
Jordan Nwogu is the child of two educators at the University of Michigan, and last week the 24-year-old put on a hitting clinic against Double-A Rocket City.
The Cubs' outfield prospect connected on just about everything thrown his way over five games for Double-A Tennessee en route to being named the Minor League Player of the Week in the Southern League. Nwogu hit safely in every game last week -- notching three multihit efforts -- with five extra-base hits, five RBIs, and five runs scored.
He explained to Harold Reynolds on MLB Network's MLB Tonight that the proper pronunciation of his last name is "wo-gu" saying, "The 'N' is silent." But there was nothing silent about his play against the Trash Pandas as he mashed three home runs -- posting his first multihomer game of the year -- and a pair of doubles while going 9-for-17 over the five contests.
"I’ve had an interesting year," Nwogu told Reynolds. "It’s been a lot of swing changes and a little bit of finding my confidence again. I think that this past week it was a matter of just getting back into a consistent routine and just trusting it."
This browser does not support the video element.
An interesting year indeed for Chicago's 2020 third-round Draft pick. Nwogu batted .155 over the first three months of the season with a nine-game stint on the injured list in June before turning it around in July. He is currently boasting a .262/.348/.590 slash line over 18 games in August.
"It's all about approach," Nwogu said. "Consistency, routine, focusing on which pitches I need to hit and what my zone is instead of just focusing on just trying to hit everything. More on being a real hitter instead of just swinging up there."
On the season, the Michigan product is slashing .196/.281/.395 with 15 dingers, a triple, seven doubles, 40 runs scored, 36 RBIs, 25 walks and 13 stolen bases across 80 games. He has handled all three outfield positions with ease as well, owning a .981 fielding percentage in 78 games.
Still, it was never just about baseball for the Computer Science major.
"Honestly, I would have gone to Michigan regardless if I played baseball or not," he said. "My parents just wanted me to focus on school and education growing up."
Adding that he still intends to use his degree sometime down the road, Nwogu said: “Unknown right now, but I’ll figure it out.”
If he continues to ball out the way he has recently, baseball remains very much a part of his future. Nwogu wore number 42 in college, an homage to his favorite player of all-time and hero, Jackie Robinson.
"I mean [Robinson's impact] is huge. He did it all for us. I wouldn’t be here right now without him," Nwogu said. "We actually, in my sophomore year, we got to meet his granddaughter and she was super cool and one quote that stuck with me was, ‘The impact of your life only matters when it has an impact on others.'”
Nwogu made his impact felt in a big way last week.