The Chicago Cubs are welcoming back right-handed pitcher Daniel Palencia to their bullpen entering Friday’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners. Palencia has been on the injured list since June 16, sidelined with right-elbow inflammation, which has popped up a few times throughout his career.
Palencia completed this rehab assignment on Sunday, tossing a scoreless inning with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A. He gave up a hit and struck out three, hitting 100mph on the radar gun with his fastball.
That was his second consecutive scoreless outing at Triple-A and Palencia looked much better after his first appearance on Aug. 11, when he looked rusty, allowing four runs after walking three batters and hitting one.
It has been a disappointing 2026 season for Palencia so far, missing most of the year with two injuries. He missed nearly three weeks in April and May because of an oblique strain and has only logged 16.2 innings. Palencia has posted a 2.70 ERA with 19 strikeouts over 19 games.
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Cubs manager Craig Counsell said that Palencia, who began the year as the team’s closer, would be used as an “out-getter” to finish off the regular season. So, you could pretty much expect Palencia to be used in high-leverage spots throughout a game that isn’t the ninth inning. In the 2025 postseason, Counsell used Palencia as the primary reliever to face the top and middle of the opposing team’s batting order once it got to the third time through the order.
If Counsell chooses to use Palencia in a more defined role, it could be as the set-up man in the eighth inning before handing the ball over to Jacob Webb, who has been spectacular, not allowing a run for the past two months, spanning 23 games. Palencia could get those looks in the eighth over Ryan Zeferjahn, who has struggled since he was acquired at the trade deadline.
In six games with the Cubs, Zeferjahn has allowed two home runs and five runs in 5.1 innings.
We’ll see how Palencia looks off the injured list, but hopefully he’ll pitch well to end the year as he did in 2025, when he missed a few weeks in September, returned, and picked up where he left off. Since April 15, 2025, Palencia has posted a 2.86 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate over 69.1 innings.
