Palencia Arrives With Style (And Maybe Staying Power) As Cubs’ Closer

He wasn’t the Cubs’ first choice to close out games in the most important stretch of the season. He wasn’t the second choice, either. But Daniel Palencia appears to be the best choice.

The 25-year-old right-hander from Venezuela is making a name for himself as the Cubs try to make a late move to run down Milwaukee in the National League Central race. He is 20-for-22 in save opportunities, including 15-for-16 since mid-June.

Palencia is the latest reminder of the potential value of lottery-ticket players.

Intrigued by his velocity and presence when he was pitching in low-A at age 21, the Cubs asked the Athletics to include him in a 2021 deal for left-hander Andrew Chapin. He’s blooming long after former second-round first baseman Greg Deichmann proved not to be a long-term replacement for Anthony Rizzo.

Palencia is about as subtle as Chicago’s infamous Polar Bear plunge into Lake Michigan. He enters games to the raucous beat of Daddy Yankee’s song “Gasolina,” and challenges hitters with fastballs that regularly register in triple-digits.

Palencia stands 5-11 and is listed at 160 pounds but appears to have outgrown that measurement awhile ago. Broadcaster Jim Deshaies calls him “Danny with the big thighs.”

Statcast measures the average Palencia fastball at 99.6 mph, which ranks in the 99th percentile among major league pitchers. It rates the pitch in the 83rd percentile in terms of run value, which reflects the hard contact it can generate when it’s connected (46.2 hard-hit rate; 90.4 average exit velocity).

Palencia had made 37 appearances for the Cubs in the previous two seasons, shuttling between Wrigley Field and Triple-A Iowa. He was at best at distant third on the pecking order of closers when president Jed Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins drew up their plans for 2025. They had traded for long-time Astros closer Ryan Pressly in the off-season and felt right-hander Porter Hodge would step up if Pressly wasn’t up to the job.

Pressly was released on August 1. Hodge was sidelined by oblique and shoulder issues in the first half of the season and seems stuck in Triple-A.

No one would have blamed manager Craig Counsell for trying to pressure his bosses into trading for a veteran closer like Jhoan Duran, David Bednar or Kyle Finnegan. But Counsell had learned to trust his eyes while manager the Brewers. He loved what he had seen from Palencia, who earned his spot on the big-league roster in Arizona and built a 1.40 earned run average through the end of July.

Counsell told the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma he had seen growth in Palencia when they talked in spring training.

“It was clear to me that he had turned the corner here,” Counsell said. “In young players, one of the things you’re looking for is: ‘Can I assess what happened last year? Can I self-assess? Can I do it well, and can I do it fairly? He just understood what happened, and then (he made) the necessary adjustments.’’

Palencia has a solid slider but this season is leaning into his four-seamer, which he throws 72-percent of the time. He has dropped his arm slot marginally over the last two years (from 37 to 35 degrees) and is getting ahead in the count more often. He is holding opponents to a .193 batting average and has a 1.01 WHIP, with a 28.7 strikeout rate.

Because Counsell trusted Palencia, the Cubs avoided making a short-term move that could cost them down the road. The faith in Palencia will best be judged in late-September, if not ultimately October.

Palencia received only $10,000 as a signing bonus when he left Venezuela. He’s earning $760,000 this season and is headed for some big raises if he can maintain his success. He’ll be a bargain again in 2026 but then is on track for salary arbitration.

The Cubs haven’t had the same primary closer in consecutive seasons since Theo Epstein ended Hector Rondon’s run by trading for Aroldis Chapman in 2016. Palencia is positioned to end that trend.