"He feels great," Hottovy said. "And mentally, I think he's getting back to who we know and know he can be and who he is. So I think we're not far off from seeing Carl Edwards back here.
Edwards, 27, has posted a 2.57 ERA and 0.71 WHIP with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven innings across six appearances at Triple-A. That performance came after he was hammered in his first four appearances for the Cubs this season, allowing six earned runs and walking five in 1 2/3 innings before his demotion.
"The big thing for him is just the consistency between outings," Hottovy said. "We want to see that one good outing turn into two good outings turn into five. And then, now you're rolling. Now you feel like you've accomplished the things that you needed to work on and things you needed to clean up just to be a successful major league pitcher. He's done everything we've asked of him mechanically, mentally, even physically during the games -- throwing one-plus innings, throwing multiple innings, coming in and closing out games. So all the things he's doing down there, he's bettering himself and getting himself ready to come back up here and be a huge contributor for us down the stretch."