The Colorado Rockies have claimed right-handed pitcher Keegan Thompson off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds, the club announced on Wednesday.
Having signed a split contract with the Reds in early November,
Cincinnati had to expose the righty to the waiver wire, since Thompson is out of minor league options, before he could be removed from the 40-man and sent to Triple-A after the signing of outfielder JJ Bleday.
Thompson, 30, is a former 3rd round pick by the Chicago Cubs out of Auburn University in 2017. He has tossed 227 2/3 innings over his big league career, all of them with the Cubs, while finding moderate success to the tune of a 3.64 ERA. His most recent big league season was in 2024, where he worked exclusively as a reliever. He managed to post a 2.67 ERA over 30 1/3 innings and had a career-best 28.3% strikeout rate.
However, Thompson was designated for assignment by the Cubs last March and outrighted to Triple-A Iowa, where he spent the entirety of the 2025 season. He had a 4.50 ERA over 64 innings in Iowa, but also managed a 29.5% strikeout rate and an 8.9% walk rate. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t enough to convince the Cubs to call him back up to the majors.
Thompson’s ability to cover multiple innings had always made him an interesting weapon in Chicago, but a lack of control likely caused the team to become disenchanted with his performance. Between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, his walk rate ballooned to 14.7% over 59 combined innings and he carries a career 11.3% walk rate. His counting stats have looked decent enough but a further look into his peripheries showcases why teams may be a little wary of committing to him. For example, a .367 batting average on balls in play last season is hard to imagine being helpful at Coors Field.
The Rockies could view those control issues as an easy fix under their new pitching development regime. Per Statcast, Thompson can deploy up to six different pitches, though he generally settles on a three-pitch mix that includes a four-seam fastball, a cutter, and a curveball. He also had a sweeper and a change-up that can be mixed in as needed. He also had a ground ball rate in the 40% range that is always going to be intriguing to the Rockies.
The addition of Thompson also comes at a rather low price. He is due about $1.3 million for the time spent on the big league roster because of the nature of the split contract. While it’s expected he would come out of the bullpen, perhaps the Rockies could feel motivated to stretch him out into a starter. He has worked mostly out of the bullpen in the big leagues, but he does have starting experience in college and the early days of his minor league career. He also made 17 starts for the Cubs out of his 29 appearances in 2022, where he posted a 4.23 ERA over 115 total innings that year.
General manager Josh Byrnes did say this week that they hoped to have some veterans eat some innings out of the rotation this year, and perhaps Thompson could fill a role as a swing-man. He’ll get a chance to audition for a role in spring training.
The Rockies now have 39 players on the 40-man roster.
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