Drew Pomeranz nearly retired. He's now key to one of baseball's best bullpens

New York Times

6 hours ago

Drew Pomeranz's 2024 big-league stint was brief. For four days in late May, Pomeranz sat in the San Francisco Giants' bullpen waiting for the call to enter a game. That moment never came.
Pomeranz signed with the Giants on May 24, and the team designated him for assignment on the 28th. By June 1, he was back home. He said it was there that he started 'mentally preparing (himself) to be done.' Pomeranz had spent nearly 14 seasons playing professional baseball at that point and was fighting through injuries to make his first big-league appearance since 2021. But he was ready to let go.
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'I was kind of defeated,' Pomeranz said. 'I was thinking, 'What am I fighting for, an extra spot somewhere?' I got four days and was essentially a fill-in. I was a little sore, my daughter's birthday was coming up in a month. Do I really want to be grinding at Triple A somewhere?'
Pomeranz didn't do much baseball-related activity the rest of that summer. Somewhere around October, he decided he should at least get back to working out regularly. The Chapman Baseball Compound in Irvine, California, was a place he knew he could do that and maybe get a little throwing practice.
'I thought I needed something to do,' Pomeranz said. 'So I might as well play catch and see what happens.'
Pomeranz realized he still had the itch. Then, in early November, around the time teams gather for the MLB General Managers meetings, he started getting some calls. He got a few Triple-A offers, but wasn't sure what he wanted to do.
'You have to assess where you are,' Pomeranz said. 'Am I a fill-in guy popping around from organization to organization? I got a family at home. What am I doing? Obviously, being away from family is hard. It's not easy on families when you're playing baseball all the time.'
At the facility where he was working out, he ran into a friend he played with who was now part of the Seattle Mariners' player development system.
'He was coming into (the facility) with another friend who was throwing,' Pomeranz said. 'I saw him right after (Seattle) reached out, and I let him know what I wanted. And they gave it to me.'
Pomeranz didn't look at it as a guarantee that he'd be returning. He wanted his body to feel right, and he had certain expectations for himself. If he was hurting or wasn't meeting his personal standards, he just wouldn't go to spring training.
'I figured if I couldn't hit 90, then what's the point?' Pomeranz said. 'I threw a live (batting practice) at UC-Irvine the week before I left (for spring training), and I hit 91. I knew that was enough. So I decided to give it a shot.'
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Pomeranz started the season with Seattle's Triple-A team in Tacoma. In late April, the Chicago Cubs were still searching for the right mix in their bullpen. They had one lefty, Caleb Thielbar, who they felt was finding his form. But they needed more depth from the left side.
They had noticed that Pomeranz's stuff was ticking up with each outing. With little depth that they trusted, the Cubs felt he was a potential upgrade and worth a shot. With the cost minimal and the ability to open up a roster spot, they acquired Pomeranz from the Mariners and, days later, added him to the active roster.
After not having pitched in a big-league game since August 2021, manager Craig Counsell didn't hesitate to throw Pomeranz back into the fire. On April 25, Pomeranz came into the eighth inning of a 4-0 game against the Philadelphia Phillies to do exactly what he came to do. Pomeranz faced two of the best lefties in the game: Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. He needed just seven pitches to strike out both.
'I don't think mentally I ever left,' Pomeranz said. 'I know what it's like to pitch in games like I am right now. I've done basically everything you can do as a pitcher in baseball. Starting, close, middle, long, whatever.'
That outing was just the beginning. Pomeranz has now tossed 18 1/3 innings for the Cubs and has yet to allow an earned run. He's averaging nearly 93 mph on his fastball and is striking out a solid 24.2 percent of the batters he's faced.
Pomeranz has opened two games for the Cubs, saved one and worked multiple other high-leverage innings. He's become a huge piece of a bullpen that seemed lost early on but now has a 3.16 ERA, fourth-best in all of baseball.
Still, Pomeranz knows it can all end quickly.
'You never know when your last day is,' he recently said.
A year ago, he was ready to walk away, preparing himself for life after baseball. But he chose to give it one final try. After his experience last summer, he knew he'd have to catch a couple of breaks and find the right situation. That's exactly what happened. Now, suddenly, he finds himself as a key piece of a Cubs team that has high hopes to make a deep playoff run.
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'I don't know what I expected this year,' Pomeranz said. 'But it's been amazing. It's exactly what I wanted. The feeling, these situations. I love it. High-leverage, that's what we're here for. You're up for it, your body is going. It's awesome. If you don't like it, you're in the wrong place.'