The Chicago Cubs added more pitching depth with signing former Pittsburg Pirate reliever Ben Heller to a minor league deal.
The Chicago Cubs added more pitching depth with signing veteran reliever Ben Heller to a minor league deal per Andrew Destin of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Heller, who has an invite to Spring Training will compete for a spot in the Chicago Cubs bullpen for 2025.
Ben Heller
Over the course of his six seasons in Major League baseball the 33-year-old journeyman reliever Ben Heller has spent time pitching for teams such as the New York Yankees where he spent four seasons, the Atlanta Braves, and most recently the Pittsburg Pirates. In 2024 Heller spent most of his season down in Triple-A for the Pittsburg Pirates, with only making eight appearances in 2024 up in the Major Leagues for the Pirates. While up in the big leagues Heller sported an astronomically high 11.25 ERA allowing 19 hits, 15 earned runs, 6 walks, and 15 strikeouts in just 12 innings of work.
Heller fared way better during his time down in the minor leagues. In 33 innings of work down on the farm Heller appeared in 30 games where he had a 2-3 record with a 3.55 ERA, with 55 strikeouts, and holding opposing hitters to a .168 average.
Role For 2025
Signed to a minor league deal Heller isn’t expected to break out with the Chicago Cubs out of Spring Training. However, according to MLB Trade Rumors Heller will have an invite to Spring Training where he will try to compete for a spot in the Cubs bullpen and if all goes well for Heller he could be taking the trip north with the club. Per Leo Morgenstern of MLB Trad Rumors who describes Heller as a:
“Heller is a no-risk, high-reward signing for the Cubs. His four-seam fastball averaged 96.3 mph in 2024 and topped out at 98 mph, while his sinker averaged 95.3 mph and topped out at 97 mph. He also throws a changeup, a cutter, a slider, and a sweeper. That’s an unusually deep arsenal for a reliever, which gives the Cubs plenty to work with if they want to adjust his pitch mix. Presumably, Heller will compete for a spot in Chicago’s bullpen during spring training.”
Presumably Heller will be competing for one of the middle relief roles that are currently up for grabs. Heller will be competing with Eli Morgan, who the Cubs got in a trade from the Cleveland Guardians, Keegan Thompson, Luke Little, and Julian Merryweather. Hellers chances aren’t the best given that he is on a minor league deal, but also the level of competition he is going against already have a leg up with most having success in the bullpen last season.
Heller’s best chance at making the bullpen in 2025 would be to out pitch Julian Merryweather who by all accounts statistically was the worst member of the Cubs bullpen in 2024, having a 6.60 ERA in 15.0 innings pitched. Heller and his six-pitch mix, unusual for a reliever to have, have a leg up on Merryweather with having a higher strikeout percentage striking out 22.7% of the batters he has faced compared to Merryweather’s 18.9%.
Overall, this is a solid signing for the Chicago Cubs because it adds more pitching depth to their roster which in the occurrence of an injury to a member of the bullpen a player like Ben Heller will be there to fill in. Given his high upside Heller could prove to be a real low cost, high reward type of signing.
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