The Chicago Cubs are starting a three-game home series against the Seattle Mariners Monday night and they’re going to have an extra hitter on their bench. Right-handed hitting outfielder Nelson Velázquez, who has been red-hot with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A, has been called up and will be active tonight at Wrigley Field.
Meanwhile, after pitching three innings in relief on Sunday in the Cubs series finale against the Texas Rangers, right-handed pitcher Javier Assad has been sent down to Triple-A.
Assad made two appearances out of the bullpen in April and was shaky in both outings. In his season debut against the Milwaukee Brewers, Assad pitched one scoreless inning, but then lost the strike zone and a few hits later he was ultimately charged with three earned runs in his second inning of work. On Sunday, the Rangers scored three times against him in the sixth inning before he tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth.
So, for the time being, the Cubs are going to be with 12 pitchers, which is one less than the maximum allowed on a team’s 26-man active roster. You would think that this obviously will not last more than a few games, maybe just Monday night. Also, right fielder Seiya Suzuki could be back with the team as soon as Tuesday.
It is also possible that the Cubs want to give Velázquez more of a shot in the big leagues and they may end up sending a few other players down later on this week. The 24-year-old has gotten at least one hit in every game so far at Triple-A, going 12-for-33 at the plate. That includes three home runs and two doubles in eight games.
However, as we’ve seen with so many young hitters and from Velázquez during his rookie season, you love the power in his bat, but he’s also susceptible to striking out at a high clip. Even in his hot streak to begin this year at Triple-A, Velázquez has struck out 10 times in 37 plate appearances. In 77 games with the Cubs in the majors last year, Velázquez had a 31.6 percent strike out rate, almost 10 percent higher than the league average.
On the other hand, Velázquez can actually play the outfield and would make a solid fourth outfielder behind Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki, once he returns. Miles Mastrobuoni, Trey Mancini and Patrick Wisdom haven’t necessarily inspired confidence with their defense filling in for Suzuki in right field so far this season.
The other interesting part as we look ahead to roster moves is who is coming up to take Assad’s spot in the bullpen. Left-hander Brandon Hughes is on a rehab assignment at Triple-A, but he might still be ramping up after missing the final couple of weeks of spring training because of a nagging knee issue.
You would think it would be someone already on the 40-man roster, so that the Cubs don’t have to cut anyone else loose, so the reliever to come up could end up being right-hander Jeremiah Estrada. The 24-year-old was briefly up in 2022 and so far this year Estrada has struck out four, walked none and allowed two hits in four scoreless innings over three relief appearances at Triple-A.
