Ivy League Cubs

By: Jacob Zanolla

This was Ben Brown’s debut season, reaching Chicago after being acquired in 2022 for David Robertson. He appeared in 15 games, starting eight of them. One of Brown’s best traits is the fact that he can start games and give you several innings, or come out of the bullpen with some high velocity.

Brown threw 55 1/3 innings this season, with a 3.58 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. A freak neck injury  derailed his season, and it seems as if he won’t be ready for Opening Day in 2025.

In the future, I would love to see the Cubs transition Brown into a late inning reliever, pairing him with Porter Hodge, who should be closing games next year. Knowing that Brown can be the emergency starter if needed is nice, but harnessing his talent into a one or two inning appearances gives Counsell a strong arm to turn to a few times a week.

The lack of pitches helps this argument. If he can focus on his fastball and curveball, and perfect those for his short outings, the potential is elite. His four-season maxed out at 98.6 miles per hour, with the signature “death-ball” knuckle curve hitting as low as 83 mph.

The phrase “hit or miss” is used a lot, but that describes Brown’s 2024 season. He ranked extremely well in terms of whiffs and strikeouts, but was also near the bottom of the exit velocity and hard hit rate leaderboards. If he got it past you, it was probably a strike. If the ball was hit, bad things were often following.

The highlight of his season came a day after Memorial Day, when he threw seven no-hit innings in Milwaukee, striking out 10 batters in the process.

Player Grade: B-

As I mentioned earlier, Brown missed a decent amount of time on the Injured List, which really hurt the Cubs pitching staff in the long run. When he was on the mound, we saw flashes of greatness. If you take away his debut in Texas, he finished the season with a 2.68 ERA and 10.57 K/9. If he can come back and stay healthy next season, the Cubs have themselves a really solid bullpen arm.

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