Cubs' Ben Brown, healthy and throwing, is looking to build off his impressive 2024

New York Times

25-02-2025

PEORIA, Ariz. — When Ben Brown first headed to the injured list with a neck strain last June, the assumption was it wouldn't be a long stint. By July, what was going on with Brown and his neck was a bit of a mystery. Later that same month, he was finally diagnosed with an osteoma, a new piece of bone growing as a benign tumor on another piece of bone.
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Whenever he'd try to get on the mound, the issue would flare up, and as Brown put it, his neck would 'lock up.' The Cubs decided to shut him down and Brown was told by his doctor that osteomas have a burnout process of two or three months and it would just go away.
'So it was just a waiting game,' Brown said. 'Eventually, I just woke up one morning, took a shower and it was just night and day.'
That came in early October.
By November, Brown was throwing again, a little later than normal, but he essentially had what he described as a standard offseason. Now, thankful that the pain is behind him and that there were never any arm issues to speak of, he can try to build off his impressive introduction to the big leagues.
'Ben's hit the ground running,' manager Craig Counsell said. 'It's been great. Very pleased with how Ben looks and feels. No restrictions. Go after it and see where we're at.'
Brown was called up early in the season last year after Justin Steele went down trying to field a grounder on Opening Day. He gave up six runs in 1 2/3 innings in his debut, but from there he looked like he belonged. Over his final 53 2/3 innings, Brown posted a 2.68 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate and 8.1 percent walk rate.
Of his 15 appearances, eight were starts, including a dominant seven-inning, no-hit performance against the Milwaukee Brewers in late May.
'The league was impressed by his stuff,' Counsell said. 'His strike-throwing ability, his ability to (get) swing-and-miss, the versatility in the role that he was able to do, and recovery from it. Those were all good things.'

Chicago's starting rotation had a 21.1 percent strikeout rate last season, 25th in baseball. Its average fastball velocity was 92.1 mph, 29th in the game. Brown averaged 96.4 on his heater and would immediately be the best swing-and-miss arm on the staff.
'I think everyone can bring something unique to the rotation,' Brown said. 'For me, it might be a little bit more two-pitch, different octane stuff. Everyone has their thing. I do think I bring something a little bit different.'
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For now, starting the season in the rotation, or even with the big-league club, may not be in the cards for Brown. Javier Assad, the presumed fifth starter for much of the winter, has been out with a left oblique strain. The expectation is that he could start throwing off the mound this week, but there may be no reason to push him to make the Opening Day roster.
If Assad does start the season on the injured list, Brown will likely be in a battle with Colin Rea and Jordan Wicks for that fifth spot in the rotation. There is an outside shot he could end up in the bullpen to start the season, but utilizing his option and keeping him stretched out at Triple A would be important.
'Ultimately, you're trying to develop starters,' Counsell said. 'That's really valuable. The elite back-end guy, they're super-valuable, too. It's knowing that we got a good pitcher there and figuring out what to do. That's what we'll have to, at some point, make decisions on. But right now, it's a starter for Ben.'
Brown says he's up for whatever role presents itself and hopes he's around all season long. While his velocity would be an outlier for this team's rotation, it's Brown's slider — he calls it a curveball, but others call it a 'death ball' or a gyro slider — that is the true standout pitch. According to Statcast, of pitchers who threw at least 300 curveballs, Brown's had the highest whiff rate (51 percent) and put-away rate (34.1 percent). Of all pitches, his breaking ball was 14th in whiff rate and eighth in put-away rate.
Ben Brown, who was primarily a two pitch guy in 2024, flashed four different pitches in his 2025 spring debut.
4-Seam Fastball, 95.4 MPH AVGChangeup, 92.2 MPH AVGKnuckle Curve, 85.6 MPH AVGSlider, 85.3 MPH AVG
Good to see Brown working on expanding his arsenal. pic.twitter.com/t1vcc5CapI
— The Wrigley Wire (@TheWrigleyWire) February 24, 2025
'It means throw it,' Brown said when asked what those numbers tell him. 'Throw it and it'll work out. You have the stuff to be in the big leagues and the stuff to get punchies.'
By last spring, Brown had decided to dump the sweeper he'd been working on and just focus on being a two-pitch pitcher. It worked well for him. But Brown also knows that by not constantly trying to grow, especially at such an early point in his career, he'll impede his ability to find his best self.
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'A baseball career is a long arc if you do it the right way,' Brown said. 'So I think developing different routines, different pitches is crucial to being a long-timer. That's something I'm very interested in.'
But by the end of his healthy stint in the big leagues, Brown started incorporating a changeup. With the help of his coaches, he's continuing to fine-tune the pitch with a new grip this spring.
'I feel like if I don't have my changeup that day I can get through a lineup with two pitches,' Brown said. 'But I want to get to the point where if I don't have my curveball one day I can get through it with my fastball and changeup, then eventually add even more pitches. But I feel like having the conviction behind what you have is really important.'
It's always the heater that gets people to pay attention. And it's his breaking ball that got Brown to the big leagues. He hopes that the addition of a changeup is what will keep him there and thriving. But for now, he probably doesn't need to overthink things. Throwing the breaker with his upper-90s heat may just be enough to succeed.
There's no doubt that if healthy, Brown will be impacting a team that is hell-bent on returning to the postseason for the first time in five years. But for a group with high expectations, Brown may have a battle on his hands to make it to Japan and be with the group to start the season.
'There's a reason why it's hard to make the Opening Day roster,' Brown said. 'It's a really good team.'
To get to another level, finding the best version of Brown could be key.