Not only is Hector Neris gone, but 24-year-old reliever Jack Neely is now in the Chicago Cubs bullpen and fans should be excited to see what the right-hander can do at the major league level.
The Cubs released Neris on Tuesday prior to their series against the Detroit Tigers and while the veteran has been better as of late Neris was still playing with fire way too often to continue letting him pitch in big moments. Now, the Cubs will surely turn to mid-season pickup Jorge Lopez in the ninth inning and there’s a chance that rookie Porter Hodge could eventually get some looks as the closer to end the season.
You know what though? Count me in on being all in on Jack Neely as a potential future closer for the Cubs. The former New York Yankees prospect was acquired by the Cubs at the trade deadline in a deal that saw Chicago send Mark Leiter Jr. to the AL East.
Neely, who was taken in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft out of Ohio State, was already having a solid campaign in the Yankees’ farm system, but he’s been even better since he was traded to the Cubs.
In six appearances at Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs Neely allowed a total of one unearned in 6.2 innings, while striking out 13 batters and only walking one. He only gave up four hits, three of which came in one appearance on Aug. 8, in which Neely still nailed down a four-out save.
Neely went 3-for-3 in save chances with Iowa and now he’ll be working out of the Cubs bullpen, where he could earn some high-leverage innings.
Overall in 2024, Neely has recorded a 2.42 ERA with an awesome 38% strikeout rate, 76 K in 48.1 innings.
Here’s Eric Longenhagen’s scouting report on Neely after the Cubs acquired the pitcher from the Yankees.
Via Fangraphs.
Jack Neely is a gigantic guy who hopped around to a several schools (Texas, San Jacinto, Iowa Western, Ohio State) before pro ball. He has been deployed entirely as a reliever in pro ball and has posted double-digit strikeouts per 9 IP up the entire minor league ladder, culminating in a 2024 in which he reached Triple-A and led full-season Yankees pitchers in swinging strike rate at a whopping 20.2%. He’s sitting 94-98 with plus vertical break with nearly perfect backspinning shape even though he releases from more of a three-quarters slot. He also has an 84-88 mph bullet-style slider that is generating an elite rate of swing-and-miss. Per Synergy, Neely’s slider has a 54% miss rate and 42% chase rate as of the trade. He’s kept his walks under control for most of the last two seasons and projects as a standard middle-inning option.
A little more from Bryan Smith.
Neely’s best pitch is what’s described as a gyro slider or splider.
Very much looking forward to seeing what Neely can do out of the Cubs bullpen.
