When Ryan Brasier is feeling his best coming out of the bullpen, the right-hander can sling his fastball wherever he wants in and around the zone.
Primarily reliant on a fastball-slider combination, the Chicago Cubs’ newest reliever tends to be locked in when those two pitches are working well. His cutter, added in 2023 when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, is a complementary pitch, one that has shown to be an effective third option for the 37-year-old, especially against left-handed hitters.
“Just adding the third pitch where they go up there and they can kind of eliminate certain stuff and certain counts and the cutter was a pitch that I would use to get back in counts,” Braiser said Wednesday. “I threw it a lot when I first got there because it was working so good.”
Braiser’s cutter wasn’t as effective last year. After the pitch had a 16.4 Whiff% and 23.5 PutAway% in 2023, his cutter produced a 3.7 Whiff% and 0.0 PutAway% in 2024 with the expected numbers against it dramatically increasing. Honing his cutter and trying to recapture the 2023 version has been a focal point of Braiser’s offseason and during the four to five bullpens he has thrown.
“Really kind of focusing on cutter and fastball right now, slider is just there off the fastball,” Braiser said. “But wanted to get my cutter back to where it was two years ago.”
A right calf strain cost Brasier 3½ months of the 2024 season. He returned in mid-August to post a 2.76 ERA in 17 appearances over the final six weeks of the regular season. Brasier pitched in eight games in the postseason, including twice in the World Series en route to winning the second title of his career (2018, Boston Red Sox).
Brasier knew the Dodgers had been shopping him before he was designated for assignment last week after they signed reliever Kirby Yates. Once Brasier cleared waivers, the Dodgers informed him he had a few trades they could work out to move him. He received a call Tuesday night that the Cubs had acquired him.
“I’m super excited to get to play in Wrigley and have it my home field,” Brasier said. “And with the additions that they made this offseason, I’m excited to get going.”
Cubs pitchers and catchers report to spring training Sunday in Mesa, Ariz., with the first full-squad workout five days later. They open their season against the Dodgers in a two-game series March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.