Cubs Agree To Minor League Deals With Vince Velasquez, Owen Miller

The Cubs have added another pair of veterans on minor league deals, agreeing to terms with righty Vince Velasquez and infielder Owen Miller, according to the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. They’ll likely be in camp as non-roster players. Velasquez is a CAA client, while Miller is represented by ALIGND Sports.

Velasquez, 33, has pitched in parts of nine major league seasons in addition to some time with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants in 2025. The 2010 second-round pick (Astros) was a well-regarded prospect prior to his 2015 debut and has at times shown the ability to pitch at the back of a big league rotation but has lacked consistency. In 763 2/3 innings in the majors, he carries a 4.88 earned run average, a 24.9% strikeout rate, a 9.3% walk rate and a 35.4% ground-ball rate.

Home runs have been Velasquez’s primary undoing in the big leagues. He’s served up an average of 1.48 homers per nine frames and seen just over 14% of the fly-balls he’s allowed in his career leave the yard. That susceptibility has offset his otherwise decent rate stats.

Velasquez’s most recent MLB work came with the Pirates in 2023. He logged a solid 3.86 ERA in eight starts, the final two of which lasted only a combined five innings. The righty hit the injured list with elbow troubles shortly thereafter, and the Bucs announced in early June that he’d require elbow surgery which would sideline him for around 11 months. Velasquez didn’t pitch at all in 2024. He signed a minor league deal with the Guardians last offseason and was selected to the major league roster at the end of April, but Cleveland designated him for assignment just two days later, before he’d pitched in a game. He was outrighted to Triple-A and eventually given his release so he could finish out the season in the KBO.

The 29-year-old Miller has suited up in parts of five big league seasons, primarily with Cleveland and Milwaukee. He briefly appeared in nine games for Colorado last season but tallied only 17 plate appearances.

In 1032 plate appearances at the MLB level, Miller is a .238/.287/.342 hitter with 15 homers, 52 doubles, a triple, a 5.8% walk rate and a 21.3% strikeout rate. He’s a right-handed hitter who’s hit right-handed pitchers better than he has lefties throughout his time in the majors.

Miller doesn’t have a great track record in the majors, but he’s posted a respectable .281/.346/.432 line in 1144 trips to the plate as a Triple-A player. He’s also capable of playing all over the infield. Since being selected by the Padres in the third round of the 2018 draft, he’s logged 1839 innings at second base, 1545 innings at shortstop, 1445 innings at first base and 942 innings at third base between the minors and majors. He’s played all three outfield spots as well, albeit more sparingly, and even tossed two innings of mop-up relief for the ’24 Brewers.