Well, sooner or later the Chicago Cubs were going to look at their farm system to bolster their bullpen and heading into Tuesday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers one of their hard-throwing pitching prospects is getting called up.
Hector Gomez broke the news late Monday night, first reporting that 23-year-old Daniel Palencia is getting promoted to the major leagues.
Cubs prospect blog, North Side Bound, confirmed the call up of the right-handed pitcher Tuesday morning.
Palencia began the 2023 season at Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies. The hard-throwing right-hander has actually been a starter in the minor leagues since making his pro debut in 2021, but the Cubs transitioned him to a reliever and brought him up to Triple-A in late May, after Palencia spent a few weeks on the development list working with coaches in Arizona.
Now, the numbers don’t look good on paper for Palencia at the Triple-A level, as he’s posted a 7.90 ERA in 13 appearances. However, as is the case with several relief pitchers it just takes a few bad outings to destroy an ERA. He’s had three bad appearances in which Palencia has allowed 11 earned runs in 2.1 innings. In his other 10 relief outings with the Iowa Cubs, the young pitcher has only given up 1 earned run in 11.1 innings.
This dude has MLB stuff. There is no doubt about it. He sits in the upper 90s and throws more 100mph at times as well. Overpowering fastball with a nasty slider. Palencia struck out 18 batters in his 13.2 innings at Triple-A.
Besides Julian Merryweather and at times Adbert Alzolay, the Cubs just do not have relievers that can come in and dominate the opposing lineup with an elite fastball. Daniel Palencia has the ability and it’s something this franchise has not had the major league level for a long time.
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