NEWSLETTER
Amid all the goodness of last night, you also had the culmination of a more-than-a-decade journey to the big leagues for reliever Tommy Nance.
Now 30 years old, Nance had worked his way from college ball to independent ball to the low minors to the medical tent to the upper minors to the pandemic to big league Spring Training and, finally, to Major League Baseball. That’s a great enough story as it is, given all the Nance has had to work through to get to this point. But he also LOOKED GREAT last night!
And it was six years ago that he was just a fan at Wrigley Field:
6 years ago, @TomNance34 was watching Cubs vs. Nationals in the stands.
Last night, he got the last 3-outs! pic.twitter.com/sJA5tRD1oU
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 18, 2021
Sandwiched in the middle of those six years, Nance missed a season and a half to injury, and he was talking about working through the grind even back then:
— Tommy Nance (@TomNance34) July 2, 2017
So Nance came back from that injury to get in a few innings in 2018, and then spent 2019 as a 28-year-old reliever at Double-A, posting solid peripherals but not getting much attention because of his age and his role. And then the pandemic happened, so the attention and experience waned further. Heck, coming in 2021, despite his long career, he’d thrown barely 100 professional innings total since the Cubs signed him out of independent ball after the 2015 season.
But he comes out of the pandemic with a velocity bump, ridiculous stuff, and looking all kinds of impressive in Spring Training. So he goes to Triple-A for the first time, dominates over his first six innings there, and the Cubs must’ve decided, OK, you’ve forced our hand: we gotta give this 30-year-old prospect a real look. So Nance is called up this weekend, makes his debut last night to finish out the game, and suddenly we’re talking about a reliever who throws 97-98 mph with great movement, and pairs it with a ridiculous slider and curveball.
Doesn't change the average much at all, but just as a note, Savant/Statcast pitch classifications haven't yet separated Nance's two breaking balls. He threw two curveballs tonight (incl the 3224 rpm pitch) and four sliders. How about 50" of break on those curves at 85 mph?!
— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) May 18, 2021
Now we see how much runway Nance gets to show what he can do in the big leagues. At his age (sorry to keep mentioning it, Tommy), you don’t necessarily want to wait on deploying him more frequently at the big league level if the stuff plays. On the flip side, he’s now on the 40-man and has minor league options, so it’s possible he becomes an up-down guy this year no matter what. It’s a very crowded and successful bullpen group right now, and thus the guys who have the flexibility to be optioned are probably going to be the guys moving around.
That said, barring some other surprising move, Nance might have time to get in a few more appearances before the next shuffling: Alec Mills is not eligible to return from the IL for another eight days, and guys like Jason Adam and Brad Wieck couldn’t be called back up from Iowa for at least another week. Guys like Rowan Wick and Jonathan Holder aren’t eligible to come off the 60-man until the end of this month (and we haven’t heard much about them in any case). Trevor Megill is still out with no updates lately. Shelby Miller is the only pitcher eligible to return who is actually throwing right now, though he’s rehabbing at Iowa in the rotation.
More Nance love:
W!#CubTogether pic.twitter.com/VgjbQI9yx3
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 18, 2021
Tommy Nance everyone. Guy is gross 🤢
— Justin Steele (@J_Steele21) May 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/adbert29/status/1394500411822911492
Such a thrill to see a guy like @TomNance34 grind it out in Spring Training and the alt-site and put on this kind of performance in his MLB debut. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/DYkB70ifmS
— Scott Changnon (@ScottyChags) May 18, 2021
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