Post-surgery Ryan McNeil is interesting. He's only appeared in three middle-relief games, 10K/1BB/8IP
9K/1BB over his 5.2 innings.
Cubs don't have a lot of high-K guys, so he's kind of interesting in that regard. We'll see whether it holds up beyond a couple of appearances. He was K-per-inning guy last year too, first full year back from the surgery. So, may be a real thing.
His usage is kind of unusual (I think): All of his appearances are 2+ innings, 3-innings max. This is similar to last year, when he averaged 2 innings per appearance, and seemed to be on a very scheduled ≥3-day rotation. I don't think he ever pitched last year with less than two days of rest. His appearances this year have involved 3- and 5-days. (Today will be 3rd day, so maybe he'll pitch tonight.)
I've wondered whether they might have plans for him, and that last year was a controlled post-surgery usage, but that perhaps he'd get another shot at rotation. Perhaps yes; but fair chance that he's just being developed for relief. Arguello said that in camp, he threw everything pretty hard, didn't see anything less than 84.
For rotation candidates, they pretty heavily emphasize working on change up, so perhaps they've just decided that he's best served to just be a reliever and to become a good one.
Arguello said he was seeing his fastball fairly routinely up in the 94-95 range, but that he was throwing a lot of high-80's cutters. I imagine that's where the K's are coming.
Watching Arrieta thriving on the cutter, and Lackey's cutter combined with his fastball being very effective, it's easy to imagine McNeil being able to ride a fastball/cutter combo to very good success. Here's hoping.