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Chicago Cubs are seeking more velocity from their starting pitching. ‘We’ve had a lot of very similar profiles over the last few years,’ Jed Hoyer says.

Meghan Montemurro, Chicago Tribune
·5 min read
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Chicago Cubs are seeking more velocity from their starting pitching. ‘We’ve had a lot of very similar profiles over the last few years,’ Jed Hoyer says.

Stylistically, the Chicago Cubs front office knows it needs to mix up the profiles on the pitching staff.

Beyond adding more quality, starting with the waiver-claim addition of veteran left-hander Wade Miley, the Cubs need more velocity, especially in the rotation. Cubs starters threw the fewest fastballs greater than 95 mph in the majors at 185, accounting for 0.8% of their pitches thrown.

Conversely, the Milwaukee Brewers led baseball with 3,031 pitches of at least 95 mph from their starters (12.6% of their pitches), while five of the teams ranked in the top six made the postseason, including the World Series champion Atlanta Braves.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer knows the Cubs need more swing-and-miss stuff. It’s an obvious area they will continue to target in the offseason.

“Our whiteboard is full, I guess is probably how I would say it,” Hoyer said at the general managers meetings last week in Carlsbad, Calif. “And as we think about moves, we used so many players last year. Adding not only starting pitching but innings in general and making sure we have enough pitching is such a big priority.”

Cubs starting pitchers threw more two-seam fastballs/sinkers (21.3%) than any other team’s starters. Just one other team had two-seamers/sinkers account for more than 13% of pitches thrown by starters: the Oakland Athletics at 20.2%.

Hoyer believes the Cubs need to find different looks, including utilizing more power arms.

“We’ve had a lot of very similar profiles over the last few years,” he said, “and there’s always that question that you can’t really prove, but is there a degradation among the staff if you have too many guys throwing two-seamers and control/command guys? At some point are you comfortable when you’ve seen that a couple days in a row?”

The Cubs have decisions to make on players eligible for the Rule 5 draft, including prospects Nelson Velazquez and Brendon Little.

Nelson Velazquez is feasting on Arizona Fall League pitching.

The 22-year-old outfield prospect leads the AFL in home runs (nine), slugging percentage (.720) and OPS (1.194) while ranking second in batting average (.366) and on-base percentage (.473) in 22 games. Velazquez’s AFL performance, combined with a strong finish to 2021 at Double-A Tennessee, is well-timed.

“He had a hell of a year this year at two levels and he’s kept it going,” Hoyer said Thursday. “You always have to think that maybe it comes together a little later. ... Willson (Contreras) is a good example of that.

“He’s been as good as anyone in that league.”

Teams have until Friday to add eligible players to the 40-man roster to protect them from being chosen in the Rule 5 draft. Velazquez is among the notable prospects the Cubs must add to avoid being exposed to the draft.

Before departing for Chicago, Hoyer said Thursday at the GM meetings the Cubs have a good idea at this point which Rule 5-eligible players they plan to put on the 40-man.

Left-hander Brendon Little is also among the prospects the Cubs can choose to protect. However, Little has a stress reaction in his left elbow and has been shut down for six weeks. Little, the team’s 2017 first-round pick, pitched in just one AFL game before the injury.

The Cubs currently have five spots open on their 40-man roster.

Injury updates on David Bote and Jason Heyward.

David Bote is facing a six-month recovery after undergoing left shoulder surgery within the last couple of weeks.

Bote, 28, missed nearly two months this summer because of a separated shoulder and struggled once he returned, hitting .197/.273/.320 in 48 games. The timetable for his return should be around a month or so into the season. Depending on offseason acquisitions, Bote currently projects as a bench bat and infield backup.

All signs point to outfielder Jason Heyward being past concerning concussion symptoms that sidelined him the final three weeks of the season. While the Cubs were in Pittsburgh during the final week of the season, Heyward visited a concussion specialist whom manager David Ross saw at one point during his playing career. Heyward, who is working out in Arizona, is not currently experiencing any symptoms and is expected to be ready for spring training.

“Certainly he’d be the first person to admit he struggled,” Hoyer said of Heyward. “As much as he struggled, he was fantastic the year before — I know it was a shortened season, but he was phenomenal in 2020. He’s going to get right to work with (new hitting coach Greg Brown) on some offseason stuff.

“Last year he struggled, there’s no doubt about it. It was a bad year, but we know there’s a lot more in there and we know what he adds to the club.”

Top pitching prospect Brailyn Márquez is finishing a throwing program in Arizona with the expectation he will be good to go when spring training starts.

Marquez, who turns 23 in January, did not appear in a game during the 2021 minor-league season. With the minor-league season canceled last year, he spent 2020 at the alternate site before a call-up and pitching two-thirds of an inning on the final day of the season. A shoulder injury and COVID-19 prevented Márquez from seeing any game action this year, which sets up a workload balance for 2022.

First baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas (right middle finger tendon) is rehabbing and should have a normal offseason after completing a successful rehab in early December.

Left-hander Brad Wieck (heart ablation procedure) has been cleared for all activity. He’s working out in Arizona and is expected to be ready for spring training as part of the bullpen mix. He’s coming off a season in which he threw 17 consecutive scoreless innings (15 appearances), striking out 28 and walking 10.