The Chicago Cubs Continue To Add Pitching Depth

Tom Ricketts and the Chicago Cubs front office appear to be wide awake on this Saturday Morning. The Chicago Cubs have added yet another depth-type pitcher into the mix. He is going into his second stint with the team.

The Chicago Cubs sign left-handed pitcher Drew Smyly to a 1-year deal worth $5.25M with about $2.5M in incentives. Smyly signed with the Chicago Cubs on a two-year deal back in 2017 but ended up not even pitching for the team because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Then Smyly was traded to the Rangers to clear the cap space for Cole Hamels. Smyly pitched for the Atlanta Braves last year, he had an ERA of 4.48 in 126.2 innings, 29 games with 23 starts, K/9 8.31, BB/9 2.91, HR/9 1.92, with a FIP of 5.11. The top of the rotation for the Cubs is already set in stone with Kyle Hendricks, Marcus Stroman, and Wade Miley, the fourth and fifth spots are pretty much open. Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson, Alec Mills, and now Smyly will all be fighting for the 4th and 5th spots. ZiPS projections for Smyly in 2022 are, 8.84 K/9, 3.00 BB/9, 1.66 HR/9, with a FIP of 4.65, with an ERA of 4.74 in 114 innings pitched. He is expected to start in 21 games, so we'll see if he does slot into the 5th starter role.

Drew Smyly's Percentile Rankings According To Baseball Savant.

Smyly has three pitches he relies on, the four-seam fastball, a curveball, and a cutter. According to baseball savant, Smyly throws his fastball about 46.7% of the time, his curveball 42%, and the cutter 11.4%. Avg Exit Velocity- 51 percentile, Hardhit%- 47 percentile, xwoBA- 19 percentile, xERA- 19 percentile, xBA- 17 percentile, xSLG- 13 percentile, Barrel%- 13 percentile, K% 33 percentile- BB%- 62 percentile, Whiff%- 40 percentile, Chase Rate- 78 percentile, Fastball Velocity- 21 percentile, Fastball spin- 13 percentile, Curve spin- 10 percentile. Remember how Jed Hoyer said they are looking to add pitchers and pitcher depth? Well, it's true, they have added Chris Martin, Mychal Givens, Robert Gsellman, David Robertson, Steven Brault, Daniel Norris, and now add Smyly.