Javier Assad

Assad averaged 94.4 mph with his fastball today, which is up 2.2 mph from last year and 2.9 mph from when he started 29 games for the Cubs two years ago. It was just a one-day thing, either, as he was at 94.1 mph in his two spring outings. Assad has always been effective for the Cubs in spite of mediocre peripherals -- he has a career 3.43 ERA with a 4.46 FIP, a 4.68 SIERA and a 4.76 xERA -- and if the extra velocity sticks around, there's a good chance he'll be helpful again. It would just probably be as a middle reliever initially.

With Harry Ford homering in the fourth, Great Britain kept this one tight until the end, but Aranda's 346-foot homer into the Crawford Boxes in Houston's Daikin Park settled matters. Mexico then added four runs in the ninth before Great Britain surprisingly pushed one across against Andres Munoz in the bottom of the inning. Javier Assad started for Mexico and pitched 3 2/3 scoreless frames. Nacho Alvarez Jr. homered for Mexico's only run through seven innings.

The Cubs shut out the defending World Series champions.

Colin Rea, Ben Brown and Assad are competing to make the Cubs as middle relievers but also to be first into the rotation should anything happen, and all three pitched today. Rea opened up with three scoreless frames, Brown followed by striking out three in two scoreless innings and Assad then kept the Dodgers scoreless through the eighth. Of the group, Rea is a lock to have a roster spot and Brown is most likely to open up in Triple-A. Assad is probably better than 50/50 to have a spot, but it'd certainly help his chances if someone got hurt.

BCB s annual series of player profiles continues.