The one that got away: Donald Veal

Throughout the history of baseball, you will find stories of players that one team has given up on who blossoms with another team.  Players such as Josh Hamilton, Brandon Phillips and, in the case of the Cubs, Lou Brock.

Could it be happening to the Cubs again?

Donald Tyrone Veal was a 2nd round pick (No. 68 overall) by the Cubs back in 2005.  A lefthander with a 92-94 mph fastball, a plus curveball and an decent changeup, he immediately became one of the Cubs top prospects.  After a 2006 season in which he split time between Peoria (A) and Daytona (A+) and posted a 2.15 ERA with 174 K’s in 154.1 IP, he was named the Cubs co-minor league player of the year and was rated as the 2nd best Cubs prospect by Baseball America.

However, like Rich Hill before him, Veal was plagued by command problems.  During his 4 years in the Cubs minor league system, he averaged 4.9 walks per 9 IP.  He was able to succeed in the low minors due to the inability of hitters to get hits off him (he only allowed 5.4 H/9 through high A ball).

Once he reached Double A Tennessee though, the advanced hitters were able to hit him (9 H/9) and combined with his command issues led to some poor results.  He posted a 4.97 ERA in 2007 and a 4.58 ERA in 2008.

The Cubs left him off their 40 man roster after the 2008 season and he was selected by the Pirates in the Rule 5 draft with the 4th pick.  The Pirates, starved for pitching, kept him on the major league roster for all of 2009.

Due to various injuries, he only pitched 16.1 innings for the Pirates with 20 walks and an ugly 7.16 ERA to show for it.  However, he spent a lot of time working with the pitching coaches in the bullpen and in the classroom.

Now it appears that things are finally coming back together for Veal.  Assigned to the Arizona Fall League, he has been downright nasty.  Through his first 5 starts, he pitched 16.2 innings giving up only 10 hits and 2 walks while striking out 17.

After a hiccup in his 6th start (2.1 IP, 5 hits, 3 walks and 3 ER), he got to face Mesa tonight in his final start of the AFL season.  (Mesa, by the way, is where the Cubs prospects, including Starlin Castro, are playing).  In his 2 innings tonight, Veal gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, 1 ER and struck out 4 (including Castro once).  Thus, Veal’s overall line for the AFL is 21 IP, 15 hits, 5 ER, 7 BB and 22 K’s.

Has Veal finally turned the corner?  Its hard to say, as we’re dealing with a very small sample size.  However, it looks promising.  If Veal can keep the walks in check, he could become a potential ace for the Pirates.  If he doesn’t, he could become the next Rick Ankiel (except that Veal can’t hit).

Tags: Arizona Fall League, Chicago Cubs, Donald Veal, former prospect