Drew Pomeranz Is Available Again — Should the Cubs Try to Recapture Last Year's Magic?

[Paul Niemiec]

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs’ bullpen construction this season was no different than what we have traditionally seen from the Jed Hoyer-Carter Hawkins group since they took over the job from Theo Epstein. Once again, they opted to sign a bunch of cheaper options in the hopes that they'd be able to coax more from players with MLB experience. It worked last year, but injuries and underperformance have reminded us fans how frustrating it is to go through the season without a shut down reliever. 

Well, I am not writing here to tell you all about a stud reliever the Cubs can go get for pennies, but there was a flier-worthy arm designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels this week, and that was old friend Drew Pomeranz. 

The Cubs signed the then-36-year-old, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2021, to a minor-league contract last season and it somehow turned out to be one of the best moves they made. In 49 2/3 innings, Pomeranz pitched to a 2.17 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP while striking out 57 batters (although his xERA of 3.48 showed he was lucky at times). Him and the other ageless lefty, Caleb Thielbar, were inexplicably one of the best left-handed relief duos in the game. 

In 2020, when he was converted to a full-time reliever with the Padres, Pomeranz stopped using his tertiary pitches completely like the changeup, cutter, and sinker. He has since used his four-seam roughly 75% of the time, mixing it with a knuckle curve, to become a pure two-pitch pitcher. Since simplifying the pitch mix and moving to the 'pen, his average xERA in the three seasons he’d pitched (2020, 2021, 2025) before heading to L.A. was 2.82. Another two interesting related points for Pomeranz’s 2025 were his BB/9 and his first pitch strike percentage; he threw a first pitch strike nearly 66% of the time, which coincides with his 2.7 BB/9, the lowest of his career outside of his 18-inning debut season. 

His renaissance in Chicago allowed him to find a major-league deal with the Halos this past offseason, but his tenure with he Angels was nothing like what we saw with the Cubs a year ago. In 23 1/3 innings, Pomeranz posted a 5.01 ERA, a 1.59 WHIP, and only 16 strikeouts. His walk percentage is way up, with his BB/9 at 4.6/9, which is the second-highest mark of his career. His strikeout percentage is way down, due to chase and whiff rates that has been nearly sliced in half from a season ago. The whiffs on his knuckle curve have shown a dramatic drop-off, with the percentage falling from 19.8 to 13.6.  One of the key contributors to his success with the Cubs was been his ground-ball rate which was just under 40%, which was in-line with his career norms. However, that number plummeted to 26.9% so far in 2026. For a lefty throwing in the low-90s, that's a major issue. He has already given up as many home runs (5) as he did last season, in less than half the innings.  On the other hand, his barrel percentage is in the same realm as it was last season, and he is still limiting hard contact to much of the same degree, outside of the homers.

Maybe a reunion with Tommy Hottovy and the Cubs’ coaching could bring back more of what we saw last season. With the way the Cubs have played over the last month and a half, there should be no option off the table. Riley Martin should be back soon, but adding Pomeranz back to the mix on a minor-league contract to see if he can find his groove, would not hurt.

If he is able to make the necessary tweaks, he should bounce back to some level of success. Having cleared waivers and now been released, he's about as low-risk of a flier as you'll find at this point in the season.

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