Jean Cabrera is a right-handed pitcher from Maracay, Venezuela, born October 20, 2001. The Phillies signed him out of Venezuela as an international free agent in July 2019 and he began his professional career in the club’s Dominican Summer League pipeline.
Signing and organizational timeline
Cabrera signed as an international free agent in July 2019 but like every other prospect missed the 2020 season when it was canceled due to COVID, which slowed his development at a crucial point. He finally made his professional debut in 2021 pitching in the Dominican Summer League which kicked off a quick rise through the system. Since then he has been moved through Clearwater, Jersey Shore and Reading, which he reached in July of 2024 for five starts and then spent the 2025 season with the Fightins. The Phillies added him to their 40 man roster in last offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Pitch mix and velocity
Cabrera is a multiple-pitch starter in the traditional sense with a four-seam fastball that sits anywhere between 91 and 96 according to Statcast. The pitch that has developed the most is the changeup that is in the 87-90 mph range. For a breaking pitch, Cabrera has a low-to-mid 80s slider/sweeper that he gets left-handed hitters to chase. He also mixes the fastball with a healthy compliment of changeups to get left-handers out.
The changeup has the clearest upside thanks to his ability to maintain his arm speed where it is with his fastball. The change also has late fade that generates the high swing and miss and weak contact numbers, especially against left-handed hitters. The fastball plays up because it has some run and skin, but location, command, and consistency have been an issue. The slider/sweeper is more of a complementary pitch that can generate swings and misses when it’s on, but it is not yet a reliable out pitch. Overall Cabrera profiles as a future starter as long as he continues to refine command and sequence his secondary stuff effectively.
Minor league performance and sabermetrics
Across his minor league work Cabrera has shown strikeout ability and generally solid control for a young pitcher, though ERA and results have varied as he adjusted to each new level. His K/9 and BB/9 numbers indicate a decent strikeout ceiling while control metrics and WHIP have been middling at times. Advanced metrics paint him as a pitcher with above average raw stuff but inconsistency in execution. For example, his early DSL numbers were excellent and in higher levels he has shown the swing-and-miss ability that drives a respectable strikeout rate. The problem comes in the inconsistency of youth that causes his effectiveness to drop.
Strengths and weaknesses (sabermetric view)
Strengths are his raw stuff and the quality of his changeup. In sabermetric terms he generates whiffs at a promising rate when his secondary pitches are located and he can induce soft contact with the changeup. His strikeout rates are a better indicator of upside than his ERA because peripheral metrics suggest that he can miss bats. Weaknesses include inconsistent command and occasional bouts of hard contact when he misses his spots. That combination can push his FIP to be somewhat higher than an ERA that benefited from favorable sequencing in some stretches. Overall the numbers fit the profile of a mid-to-high upside prospect who needs to tighten command to be a reliably effective starter.
Bottom line
Jean Cabrera has a legitimate starter’s repertoire and a changeup that scouts love. He throws mid-90s heat, mixes in a hard change and a sweeping breaking pitch, and has a strikeout profile that projects well. The path forward is largely dependent upon improving command, repeating his delivery and polishing his sequencing so those good secondary offerings become consistently dominant. It would be a natural progression for Cabrera to open the 2026 season at Triple-A Lehigh Valley after 31 starts at Double-A over the past two seasons.
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