The veteran right-hander brings his elite splitter, eyeing a dominant bounce-back performance against a struggling Royals lineup to ignite Chicago’s late-season postseason push.
New Chicago Cubs pitcher Kevin Gausman will make his team debut on Friday against the Kansas City Royals.
The Cubs acquired Gausman late on Sunday night to bolster their rotation for the stretch run. The front office traded for the veteran right-hander in exchange for two lower-ranked prospects in Ty Southisene (No. 13) and Brett Bateman (No. 21).
Gausman will now hope to help this Cubs team make a deep postseason run. Although he is in the midst of a down year on the mound, the 35-year-old has the potential to really lead Chicago’s rotation over the final two months.
Gausman will have a solid first matchup in this Cubs debut. He will go up against a Royals offense that has struggled offensively for most of the year. Kansas City currently ranks in the bottom 10 in runs, strikeouts, slugging percentage, and OPS.
So, what should Cubs fans expect from Gausman in his first start?
The two-time All-Star is a very simple pitcher on the mound. He leans on only three pitches (four-seam fastball, splitter, and slider), with his four-seam fastball and splitter really leading the way. He throws those two pitches combined 90% of the time.
Obviously, leaning on just two pitches isn’t great for a starting pitcher. It makes them very predictable on the mound because hitters know what’s coming. 90% of the time, he’s either throwing a fastball or a splitter.
However, it hasn’t stopped Gausman from being a consistent fantasy pitcher over the years. The 14-year veteran has a 3.47 ERA and 1,147 strikeouts across 1,053 innings pitched since the start of the 2021 campaign.
The limited pitch mix simply hasn’t mattered for Gausman over the years. His four-seam fastball does a nice job attacking hitters early in counts, and the splitter is easily his best pitch. When the splitter is at its best, the right-hander is simply untouchable on the mound.
This year, Gausman's splitter has a .212 batting average against, a 39.7% whiff rate, and a 17.5% putaway rate. That pitch was really solid in the month of July, as opposing hitters batted .200 with a 44.2% whiff rate.
Gausman will get a lot of hitters to chase outside the zone on that splitter, hence why his chase rate (34.4%) ranks in the 86th percentile. He won’t walk many hitters (6.7%), and will get a solid amount of whiffs on all his pitches (27% whiff rate).
Even though Gausman has struggled on the mound since the beginning of June, the Cubs are hoping that the right-hander can benefit from a change of scenery. He’ll have a nice opportunity to bounce back in a plus matchup against a poor Royals offense on Friday.
