The Cubs reached agreement with reliever Zach Pop on a minor league contract, according to Tommy Birch of The Des Moines Register. The right-hander was assigned to Triple-A Iowa.
Pop is on his fourth organization of the season. He has bounced between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Mets. Pop was on the injured list with Toronto and combined for five outings between Seattle and New York. He was tagged for 12 runs (11 earned) including four homers in 6 2/3 innings. Pop is out of minor league options, so teams couldn’t afford to give him much rope when he was struggling to that extent.
The 28-year-old has pitched in parts of five MLB seasons. He threw 48 1/3 frames for the Jays last year, working to a 5.59 ERA with a well below-average 15.8% strikeout percentage. Pop doesn’t have huge swing-and-miss stuff, but he sits around 96 MPH with his sinker and has posted a 55% ground-ball rate in his MLB career. He carries a 3.71 ERA in 80 career Triple-A innings.
