Matthew

Boyd

Well, this is a bummer. Boyd looked good on Wednesday, striking out 10 hitters in a game for the first time since 2019. Apparently, his arm didn’t bounce back well from that injury, so he will land on the IL with Javier Assad starting in his place tomorrow. We should have more information on a timeline for Boyd’s return later this week.

Coming off a rough first outing, Boyd generated 20 whiffs today, with 11 of those coming on his fastball. He gave up just three hard-hit balls. Although Boyd was an All-Star last year, he hadn’t struck out 10 in a game since doing so seven times in 2019. He has a pretty good matchup next week against the Rays in Tampa Bay.

Boyd struck out seven and walked only one, but the contact against him was very loud. Seven of the nine balls in play against him were hard-hit, with four of those topping 105 mph. He gave up a 111-mph homer to Joey Weimer and a 111-mph shot to right to CJ Abrams that would have been a homer in 29 ballparks (Abrams wound up being thrown out at second after watching his single). Boyd’s velocity was fine today. He also had some issues with hard contact this spring, but he still seems like a fine bet at the moment. He’ll get the Angels next.

He got his work in, and that’s really all that matters. While his fastball velocity is simply holding steady, Boyd was all of the way up to 85.8 mph with his slider tonight. That’s up from 79.5 mph in 2024, 82.0 mph last year and 83.5 mph in his previous starts this spring. It’s obviously not an accident. Boyd’s slider was his best pitch in 2018 and ’19, when he was a middling starter for the Tigers. Since then, it’s been pretty average, while his fastball and changeup have done more of the heavy lifting and made him a better pitcher overall. Boyd’s next outing will come on Opening Day against the Nationals.

Per Jesse Rogers, Boyd will start Chicago’s opener against the Nationals. The Cubs clearly want him to stay ramped up for that game. Boyd profiles as a top-50 starter this year and should be started with aplomb against what looks to be a dismantled Nationals offense.

Boyd couldn’t get through his third inning, but that gave Giants minor leaguer R.J, Dabovich a chance to pitch for Team USA, as the club borrowed him for the day. Boyd averaged 94.1 mph with his fastball today, up 0.8 mph from 2025, and he got 13 whiffs on 34 swings in the 49-pitch outing.

The 35-year-old southpaw made a statement in the opening inning, getting Zach Neto on a ground ball before striking out Mike Trout and Yoan Moncada in succession. He then got a couple of weak ground balls to start the second before punching out Travis d’Arnaud. With his pitch count in a manageable range, Boyd returned for the third where he once again set down the Angels in order. Overall, he threw 23 of his 34 pitches for strikes, generating seven swings and misses and registering a CSW of 29 percent. This is likely to be his final start before Boyd leaves to join the Team USA for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.

Boyd, who is preparing to pitch in the WBC, had some interesting stuff going on today, as his fastball velocity was down a little from last year but all of his secondary pitches were up by 1.5-2.5 mph. So, instead of last year’s 11-mph difference between his fastball and slider, it was nine today. His changeup difference was down from 14.5 mph to 11.5 mph. Still, best not to ready too much into one outing in February.

This probably doesn’t thrill the Cubs, given Boyd’s injury history, but since he did put in a full season last year, there’s nothing the team can do about it. Boyd went 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA and made his first All-Star team in his first season in Chicago.

It was a remarkable bounce-back performance from Boyd, who managed to work into the fifth inning of a do-or-die affair for the Cubs after allowing just two runs in the opening contest of the best-of-five series. The 34-year-old veteran southpaw struck out six and allowed just two hits and three walks in this one as he and four relievers — Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Caleb Thielbar — combined on a three-hit shutout at Wrigley Field to keep Chicago’s postseason hopes alive.