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For a second here, let’s put the Cody Bellinger free agent pursuit on hold and discuss what this is all about, someone trying to live their dream…unless you’re Anthony Rendon. The Chicago Cubs signed right-handed pitcher JC Coronado to a minor league deal earlier in February. The 22-year-old has been playing in Indy Ball for a couple years and now he’ll get the chance to work in the Cubs pitch lab down in Arizona.
Coronado is a native of Laredo, Texas, and there’s obviously a reason why the Cubs are giving the 6-foot-1 righty a shot. It’s not based on his results pitching for Northern Colorado in the Pioneer League during the 2023 season because Coronado struggled, posting a 13.50 ERA in 10 innings with 8 eight strikeouts and 13 walks. Nope. Someone in the Cubs scouting department must have seen video of Coronado throwing and lighting up the radar gun to the tune of 100mph.
If you can throw high velocity, then someone will give you a chance and that’s what we have here with Coronado and the Cubs.
Coronado has also worked with Tread Athletics back in 2022. I’m not familiar with that company, but it appears to be similar to Driveline Baseball, which has been known for helping pitchers increase velocity and improve other parts of their game via data-driven research.
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Good stuff and if you love a good underdog story, then how can you not root on a guy like Coronado.
Seeing that he is only 22-years-old and doesn’t have much pro experience, you can probably expect the Cubs to work with Coronado for a while down at the team’s facilities in Mesa, Ariz., before he hopefully earns the opportunity to get assigned to a minor league affiliate later on this year.
There is never any downside to these types of moves, so good on the Cubs and congrats to JC Coronado, who will hopefully take advantage of this opportunity.
