Javier Assad Remains the Cubs' Ultimate Swiss Army Knife

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Javier Assad doesn't possess the flashiest of skill sets among members of the Chicago Cubs pitching staff. His results aren't even close to the most impressive. But 2026 reaffirmed that Assad is every bit the type of pitcher that the Cubs or any other staff in baseball needs to hold in their employ.

In the last few seasons, we've seen a couple of different iterations of Javier Assad as far as his role goes. In 2023, he was the swingman making 10 starts within 32 overall appearances. The following year, he was a full-time starter, taking the ball 29 times in that capacity. The 2025 season was largely a wash due to an oblique injury, but 2026 saw him return to his '23 ways by shifting between various roles as needed.

By season's end, Assad had made 28 appearances but only 11 starts (94.1 innings in total). His ERA sat at 3.63 with a career-best 7.1 percent walk rate. As a starter, Assad threw 56.2 innings to a 3.49 ERA against 37.2 innings & a 3.82 ERA in relief. His strikeout rate was quite similar regardless of role while his walk rate was improved slightly in relief as opposed to starting (7.9 BB% as a starter, 6.0 percent as a reliever). That's not that much variance overall, but what allowed Assad to find that type of steadiness is here:

I'm not pitching Assad as some sort of hidden gem amongst Cub pitchers from a performance standpoint or declaring his role needs to be larger. Instead, this illustrates exactly what makes Assad as well-suited for his 2026 role as he is: limiting baserunners and getting groundball contact.

It helps that Assad is as sinker-forward as he is (42 percent usage rate). That'll play against either handedness, though it's worth noting he used it less against lefties in favor of a blend that also relied heavily on a cutter and four-seamer. In general, though, he was able to use the sinker and cutter to generate groundball rates over 50 percent in total, with the cutter leading the way against left-handed hitters (47.4 percent). The sinker itself was particularly adept at avoiding the barrel, with a Barrel% of just 4.2 against hitters of either handedness.

The beauty of this skill set is in its simplicity. There aren't necessarily more strikeouts waiting to be uncovered in Assad's game. He doesn't need to spend the offseason searching for more velocity. Instead, that ability to generate groundballs and avoid opposing barrels is exactly what he should continue to be. And if the Cubs want to keep him in this very swing man role, especially if it means they can decline their club option on Colin Rea, then that seems like a perfectly worthwhile outcome as they build their staff for next season.