Injuries opened the door for Ryan Rolison. The Cubs' surprise reliever is quickly proving his worth with a dominant, six-pitch arsenal.
The Chicago Cubs have gone through a lot of different bullpen arms to start the season.
With Daniel Palencia, Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, and Caleb Thielbar all on the 15-day injured list, the Cubs have needed to call up a handful of pitchers from Triple-A. That includes pitchers like Riley Martin, Corbin Martin, and Vince Velasquez.
But the biggest surprise in this revamped bullpen has been Ryan Rolison.
The Cubs claimed Rolison in early January after the Chicago White Sox designated him for assignment. Although Rolison struggled in his rookie season with the Colorado Rockies in 2025, Chicago saw his potential as a reliever.
That potential has no doubt been on display in his short time in the Cubs organization.
Rolison got off to a solid start at Triple-A Iowa to begin the season. The southpaw had a 3.68 ERA and 11 strikeouts across 7 ⅓ innings pitched and posted strong metrics in his five appearances. He had an 82.5 mph average exit velocity, a 0% barrel rate, a 20% hard-hit rate, and a 35.9% whiff rate.
Those numbers led to the 28-year-old being called up on April 14. The Cubs needed a fresh arm in their bullpen with so many injuries, and Rolison deserved another shot in the Major Leagues.
Now, Rolison is starting to establish himself as a potential key arm in Chicago’s bullpen. He’s making the most of this opportunity and looks like a much different pitcher on the mound than a season ago.
The left-hander has thrown four scoreless innings with three hits and one strikeout in his two relief appearances. He has yet to allow a walk or a barrel, is allowing a lot of soft contact (25% hard-hit rate), and his six-pitch mix is throwing hitters off balance.
His most memorable bullpen appearance actually came in Friday’s 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rolison threw three scoreless innings with two hits and one strikeout to help the Cubs win their 10th straight game.
The way Rolison navigated that elite Dodgers lineup was impressive. He started off his appearance by getting Kyle Tucker to line out, and both Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy to ground out.
He then struck out Shohei Ohtani looking on a beautiful slider that touched the corner of the zone. Rolison went right after Ohtani in that at-bat, mixing in a sweeper, a curveball, two four-seam fastballs, and a slider to put him away.
Rolison has only pitched in two games for the Cubs this season, but he’s already shown promise in his few innings. If he continues to attack hitters with his six-pitch mix, he could be here to stay.