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.
Cubs have the first 200 man roster for Spring Training really leaving no stone unturned.
I’m trying to type a worthy reply to Uncle’s post but my phone keeps ringing from a 312 area code. I told Jed a month ago that I haven’t thrown a pitch in anger for 20 years since I left Purdue, but he keeps leaving messages about “depth…injuries…Big-League chicks….meal-money…Iowa is flat but beautiful…Deep-Dish pizza….free tickets to Lollapalooza.and the Air-Show.”
Dammit…maybe I should pick up the call.
Vince Velazquez
KBO Lotte Giants Legend
You’re very kind for not mentioning what happened to Velasquez in the KBO last year lol
Have a feeling Miller is going to make the team.
I just can’t think of anything redeeming to say about Vince Velasquez as a pitcher. Maybe he begins 2026 in Triple-A with a chance to help the club in long relief later in the season. Honestly don’t see much good coming out of this signing but stranger (not many) things have happened. I picked him up in an NL-only back in 2018 for a beautiful 5 game run that July/August: 13 HA, 2 ER, and a 22/9 K/BB in 25 1/3 IP. He was also 3-0 during that prolific and triumphant time. I’d like to remember that Vince Velasquez!!
I think this is the third time the Cubs have signed him. He must like Iowa. If the Cubs haven’t figured out what he is yet then I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe he learned a new pitch or something in Korea. A whirly spitball knuckleball or something.
Let me help you then. He joined the Pirates a couple seasons back as a reclamation project. As is the case now, he was trying to rebuild his reputation.
Good guy here who worked his tail off and had a number of good starts for a bad team. Then disaster struck again and he had a major injury
I don’t know about you, but I appreciate such perseverance. I hope he makes an impact for the Cubs
Let me help you. He’s been with the White Sox and Cubs and he’s still washed.
Perhaps he is. But unlike you, again, I have a solid respect for athletes who persevere. That’s all. Washed or not, he has more on his athletic resume than the average sarcastic fan
Are you his mom?
Are you just a blithering moron? And have you ever played or coached anything in your life, or is it that you just park your fat carcass on the couch and think of smart alec nonsense?
I’m 70. And I was drafted by the Royals if it’s any of your business. And I’ve forgotten more about baseball than you know.
Thanks for the good laugh, Mike. You win. He’s a washout. Happy now?
Washed-Arguing with Uncle Mike is like peeing into the wind.
He thinks that he knows everything about baseball but never has anything good to say about anybody.
He is in essence a troll.
I hope that Vince pitches like he did with the Pirates.He deserves a break.
Always had good stuff but never could put it together.I saw him with the Phillies and he would pitch fine then very well but then bad for twice as long.
One problem with sports is that major injuries are common and they can wreck careers.You and I give Vince credit for keeping at it through thick and thin.
Unlike certain posters on here.
“shown the ability to pitch at the back of a big league rotation but has lacked consistency.”
Did AI write this
How does he lack consistency?
Walk rate between 7.8% and 11.8% his entire career. Strikeout rate between 21.6% and 29.9% his entire career. xFIP- between 89 and 117 his entire career.
How is that inconsistent?
Just mute him like you do to others.
BNS
What?
I don’t mute people for being wrong. Or making a mistake. Or saying something I disagree with
I mute them for being [donkey]holes
I appreciate that!
Wasn’t Vince Velasquez once a top pitcher for the Phillies?
He basically had a roller coaster time with the Phillies.
He has nothing to be ashamed of. He pitched in the majors. He pitched effectively in the majors
But that game he had in the outfield will be my lasting memory of him