Cubs Reportedly Signing Hard-Throwing Pitcher From Cuba

Hey, this is certainly seems like an interesting signing.

For a long time the Chicago Cubs have lacked hard-throwing pitchers and although that's not an automatic recipe for success on the mound, having the ability to overpower hitters can certainly be useful. In 2023, we've seen a few pitchers come up to the Cubs, most notably Nick Burdi and Julian Merryweather, both older pitchers coming from outside of the organization, that have thrown hard, but with mixed results. There are a few more power arms coming up through the Cubs minor league system and soon a right-handed pitcher out of Cuba will be in that prospect mix, too.

According to baseball writer Francys Romero, the Cubs are on the verge of signing 20-year-old Brander Guevara, who left Cuba in 2019 and went to Costa Rica before heading to the Dominican Republic in 2021. The right-handed pitcher is most known for hitting 90mph on the radar gun in 2018 at the U-15 World Cup tournament. The deal is still pending a physical, but it's pretty much done.

However, before we get too excited about Guevara's potential, it doesn't sound like he'll be a flame-thrower on the mound according to MLB.com's scouting report on him in January 2022.

Via MLB.com.

A member of Cuba’s team at U-18 World Cup in 2018, the teenager is considered by many scouts to be a potential starter. He has shown good mechanics with solid arm action and durability. He spent some time in Costa Rica and in December, he moved to the Dominican Republic to showcase his talents. Guevara’s fastball sits at 90-91 mph and the belief is that he will eventually touch 93-94 mph consistently.

That being said, who's to say the Cubs pitch lab can't tweak some things in his delivery and get a little more velocity out of the arm of Guevara. Also, you love to see that he has the potential to stick around as a starting pitcher.

No matter what way a team acquires pitching talent, you have to continue to explore every single avenue because you just never know when you'll find a diamond in the rough.

Once Guevara is officially signed by the Cubs, you could maybe expect him to pitch down in the Arizona Complex League this summer and then who knows, depending on how developed and healthy he is, Guevara could conceivably make it up to affiliated ball in the lower minor leagues by the end of the 2023 season.

Because of his age though, at 20-years-old, fans should be able to see Guevara in the minor leagues much sooner than the typical international free agent signing, who are generally 16-17 year-old kids coming from Latin America.