How Cubs hope to maximize pitcher Edward Cabrera's talents this spring

MESA, Ariz – When a free-agent pitcher signs with the Cubs organization, he comes in with a good sense of what the team thinks of him, as well as areas the coaching staff believes it can help him improve. Part of free agency was sitting through such presentations.

Acquired via trade, right-hander Edward Cabrera got none of that.

He’d known that his name was being bandied about in Marlins trade talks, but his landing spot was out of his control. So, much of the early part of spring has been about laying the foundation that he and the Cubs weren’t able to get a head start on.

“It's different, even the weather,” Cabrera said in the early days of camp, through team interpreter Fredy Quevedo Jr. “But I always try to be on the same page. And I feel really good. I feel really good with the staff here.”

Cabrera made his first start Cactus League start on Friday, tossing two perfect innings and striking out half of the Guardians batters he faced.

He’s been juggling so much newness, transitioning into a new organization for the first time in a decade, that the Cubs tried to tailor his ramp-up schedule to what was familiar.

“It's really just that onboarding process,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told the Sun-Times. “Getting to know him, getting to know his routines, what he does in the weight room, the training room, throwing routines, bullpen routines, all those things – and then slow-dosing him information.”

Hottovy doesn't like to open conversations after live batting practice or games with his observations. He’d rather see what the player is gravitating towards first.

“He definitely loves attacking the strike zone,” Hottovy said. “He tailors a lot of his identity, I think, in the bullpen work and lives to strikes. And we know if his stuff is in the strike zone, he's really freaking good. I also want him to give himself some credit that he's not going to be perfect all the time and that competitive misses are positive for him.”

It’s a natural progression coming off of last season, when he cut down his walk rate from 12% the previous year to 8.3%. The next step is to find a little bit of a happy medium.

The same concept could also contribute to a shift in pitch usage.

“A lot of his usage was tied to the strike zone,” Hottovy said. “Which is great; he knows what he can throw in the strike zone. Now, I think there's little things we can tweak.”

Cabrera has long leaned on his 94-mph changeup as his primary pitch. Last year, he threw his curveball second-most, followed by his sinker, which overtook his four-seamer as his most-used fastball because he was more comfortable throwing it for strikes.

In two innings Friday, however, his four-seamer was his most-used pitch (32%), according to Statcast, followed by his changeup (26%).

“That's one thing that I want to do, I want to throw it more,” Cabrera said. “And then it can contribute to my other pitches as well.”

The Cubs also want to make sure Cabrera has a good physical foundation, in part to combat his extensive injury history.

“We're doing a much better job as an organization when we acquire guys understanding what they've dealt with,” Hottovy said, “diving into the biomechanics as to why we think that might be coming up and if there's anything that we can help fix or help clean up throughout the process. So definitely making sure that strength numbers are in a good place, range of motion, getting just a full diagnostic of who this player is extremely important.”

High-velocity pitchers like Cabrera tend to be more injury-prone. But the industry has also come to understand that delivery efficiency both will help protect health, and can bump up velocity.

If the Cubs can keep Cabrera on the field, his stuff and continued strides will raise the rotation’s ceiling.

Said manager Craig Counsell: “We just think this is a talented pitcher coming into the right part of his career.”