PEORIA, Ariz. — Matthew Boyd converged with catcher Miguel Amaya near home plate, the batterymates chatting as they walked off the field following the first inning Monday at Peoria Stadium.
Boyd, making his Cactus League debut for the Chicago Cubs, values those in-game conversations with his catcher, especially when it’s their first time working together. Whether it’s breaking down how to attack a hitter or something Amaya is picking up from watching Boyd from behind the plate, those interactions can be particularly insightful early in spring training.
“It was awesome to work with Miggy, there’s so many things you can talk about with him,” said Boyd, who threw two shutout innings against the San Diego Padres. “It’s awesome to work through the sequencing and the pitch calling and game situations, and it felt good to get back on the mound and do it in the Cubs uniform.”
Boyd predominately relied on his fastball and changeup, mixing in his curveball, sinker and slider, the latter of which featured a flatter pitch shape than he would have liked. He also used PitchCom to call some of his own pitches during Monday’s outings, though he isn’t sure whether he will do that during the regular season.
Boyd believes the best sequencing comes from the catchers due to the perspective they have from behind the plate. But with Amaya catching him in a game for the first time, the low-stakes environment felt like a good moment for real-time feedback and insight into what Boyd was thinking on the mound through using his PitchCom.
“Ideally, we’ll be on the same page every time, but also I don’t have all the answers when I’m out there,” Boyd said. “So there’s things I want to work on, especially like today, that the situation may not dictate a curveball — let’s go to the curveball right here, let’s work on it, it’s a great situation to use it, and so forth.”
Although Boyd is healthy and had his first offseason since 2021 where he wasn’t hurt or rehabbing an injury, the Cubs can’t completely dismiss the health element this year. Manager Craig Counsell said Monday there will be a balance that comes because of the number of innings he’s pitched.
Boyd, 34, hasn’t thrown more than 79 innings in a 162-game season since 2019 with Detroit.
“I don’t want to get too sensitive about it because we want him to pitch,” Counsell said. “One of the reasons we were interested is we thought he was kind of set up to really have this great full season. But we’ve got to watch those cues. He’s had some injury troubles, and so I think that’s an important part of, ‘what does it look like third time through the lineup, or in the sixth inning or things like that, making sure what is throwing 100 pitches do for his next couple starts?’ Just get having a feel for that I think is important.”
This time last year, Boyd was unsigned, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at home and preparing to coach his son in Little League. Now he gets to fully focus on preparing for the season and how he wants to compete. As important as it is to be present, the normality means Boyd can take more of a long-term lens to the season for the first time in a while.
The Cubs’ decision to sign Boyd to a two-year, $29 million deal raises the floor of the rotation, giving them a pitcher who they believe has his best years still ahead of him.
“Well, hopefully the best two, yeah,” Counsell quipped.
The Cubs are positioned to be a left-handed-heavy rotation with at least three southpaws currently penciled in — Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele and Boyd — and another (Jordan Wicks) who is expected to get starts this year regardless of his opening day roster status. Each of the lefties gives a unique look, though: Steele features a fastball he can cut to give a bunch of different looks within his arm slot, Imanaga works north-south in the zone with his rising fastball-splitter combination, and Boyd uses a five-pitch mix out of a low arm slot.
A healthy Boyd makes the Cubs rotation an intriguing group.
“I mean, I’m biased to it, I don’t really understand why you can have a ton of righties in a rotation and not lefties because it’s an ‘advantage’ in terms of handedness of hitters,” Boyd told the Tribune at the beginning of camp. “I think I speak for a lot of lefties, we’re used to facing righties. But beyond that we (on the Cubs) all do things different. It’s not like you’re facing the same guy.”
