Searching for Brad Keller Part 6 – Vince Velasquez

This is the sixth post in a series taking a closer look at the Cubs non-roster Spring Training invitees pitchers – with the hope that one of them might break out similarly to how Brad Keller did last season. Or at least provide some organizational depth to the bullpen or starting staff.

Here is a great Twitter thread from Brendan Miller going through all the pitchers in camp, including the non-roster invitees:
https://x.com/brendan_cubs/status/2021429115208016238?s=20

We’ve gotten to the last of the veteran non-roster invitees (or potential non-roster invitees), unless the Cubs sign someone else. Although I may need to take a brief look at a few of the relievers on the 40-man roster who would be viewed as long-shots.

Vince Velasquez

Velasquez is probably a name lots of people recognize, as he’s 33-years-old and has 9 years of major league experience with the Astros, Phillies, Padres, White Sox and Pirates. He was a 2nd round pick of the Astros all the way back in 2010. He has not officially been invited to Cubs Spring Training as of the creation of this post.

He’s mostly been a starter in his career, with 144 starts in 191 appearances, posting a 4.8 WAR a 4.88 ERA and an 86 ERA+ — which are below average numbers. His best seasons were in 2016 and 2018 with the Phillies, where his number were still slightly below average.

He was only involved in one trade in his career, being traded along with one of the biggest draft busts in MLB history, Mark Appel and a couple other players from the Astros to the Phillies for Jonathan Arauz and Ken Giles.

He did have 8 good starts for the Pirates in 2023, his last season in the majors, posting a 3.86 ERA over 37.1 innings. But he blew out his elbow, and needed surgery to repair his UCL and flexor tendon, which caused him to miss most of 2023 and all of 2024.

He was signed to a minor league deal by the Guardians, and was added to the 40-man roster in April. But he was almost immediately designated for assignment and then sent to AAA, where he had a 3.86 ERA over 18 starts. But was not called up, and was released on August 5th, so that he could sign with a Korean team.

HIs stop in Korea was not pleasant, from a pitching perspective, as he struggled with a 8.23 ERA over 11 games – 7 of them starts.

So why did the Cubs sign a 33-year-old with an arm injury history and no real track record of success?

Here is a sampling of some of the article announcing his signing:

• From MLB Trade Rumors
• Bleacher Nation
• Chi City Sports
• Cubs HQ

The message across the board seems to be that this is a depth move for the organization, and not much is expected from Velasquez.

There may be a bit of a shortage in starting pitchers for the AAA team as injuries start to hit. There are a few players who could start in Iowa if they don’t make the major league roster (Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, Ben Brown).

Here is what Greg Huss, from Outside of the Vines predicted in January: a rotation of Wicks, Wiggins, Connor Noland, Will Sanders, Grant Kipp and Walker Powell. Velasquez and Kyle Wright might be around to provide some cover for this group, in case there are injuries or one or more need to head to double-A.

Honestly, I think this post might be the most I think about Vince Velasquez for the rest of the season, but we will see.