![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-05-02T211315Z_367458077_MT1USATODAY28864866_RTRMADP_3_MLB-ARIZONA-DIAMONDBACKS-AT-CHICAGO-CUBS-.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nST LOUIS \u2014 Last fall, the Chicago Cubs were debating their roster for a playoff series against the Milwaukee Brewers. A name they considered, and ultimately chose, was Ben Brown. Brown was happy to be a part of the roster, but he also used the fact that he was on the bubble for inclusion as motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Ben was like, \u2018I don\u2019t just want to be on the playoff roster; I want to be a part of this thing,\u2019\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201c(He thought), \u2018I\u2019ve put myself in this position where you\u2019re having to make that decision.\u2019 He wasn\u2019t complaining about the decision; it was a fair consideration. That\u2019s part of what he put on himself going into the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown entered this season with two pitches added to his arsenal \u2014 a changeup and sinker \u2014 and a new mindset. He forced his way onto the roster in the bullpen and quickly established himself as a quality piece of the unit. Now, with injuries forcing him into the rotation, he\u2019s making a case to stay there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen\u2019s pitched really well, and Ben\u2019s going to continue to make starts,\u201d Counsell said.<\/p>\n
Counsell isn\u2019t one to get too far into the future, so for him to say that feels noteworthy. Counsell, at least publicly, treats the future as something he can deal with when the time comes. But to remove Brown from the rotation after what he has done so far would be a step back for Brown and the team.<\/p>\n
In Saturday night\u2019s 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, Brown was dominant yet again. In seven innings of work \u2014 his longest start of the season \u2014 he allowed one run on three hits while striking out six and walking one, needing just 82 pitches to get through the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great start,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cI thought getting seven innings at this stage of where he\u2019s at was really impressive. I thought the last at-bat, to (Nolan) Gorman, was a little symbolic of how Ben\u2019s changed. He threw four changeups. That\u2019s just something that couldn\u2019t happen last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown got three swinging strikes on those changeups to end his night. It was one of many moments that stood out as the 26-year-old righty continues to emerge as a critical piece of a Cubs rotation that has been searching for answers.<\/p>\n
Brown struggled against lefties and righties last season, but lefties especially managed to slug against him, posting a .252 ISO against him. For comparison\u2019s sake, that\u2019s the same number Pete Alonso delivered last season while slugging 38 homers. But this season, Brown has largely neutralized lefties.<\/p>\n
Entering Saturday\u2019s game, lefties were slugging just .241 against him with three total extra-base hits. Still, the Cardinals stacked their lineup with lefties Saturday, giving six the start against Brown. The lefties got all three of the hits Brown allowed, but they were all singles, and four of his six strikeouts came against them.<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s overall numbers for the season are brilliant. He has a 1.92 ERA with a 26.4 percent strikeout rate and 7.5 percent walk rate. In five starts, his ERA is 1.73. Last season, Brown had strong peripherals but not the results to match, posting a 5.92 ERA in 106 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
That, of course, was before he fully added the sinker and changeup to his arsenal. Opponents hit .315 and slugged .526 on Brown\u2019s four-seam fastball last season. According to Statcast, the pitch had a RunValue of minus-11, one of the worst pitches in baseball. Overall, his average exit velocity against of 92.4 mph was in the bottom 1 percent of the league.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bad feeling being out there feeling like the hitter knows what I\u2019m going to do because I have two choices,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWhat the stuff does at the plate and what it does to a pitcher\u2019s mind, I think they\u2019re both really good things for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sinker in particular has reshaped the way Brown pitches. Though still limiting walks and racking up strikeouts, Brown now has a 51.5 percent groundball rate, eighth in baseball for pitchers with at least 40 innings thrown. Last season, the highest groundball rate he got on any pitch was his curve at 50 percent. Now his four-seamer, with a 50 percent groundball rate, is his worst pitch in that department.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Ben Brown unlocked success by adding a sinker and a changeup to his arsenal over the offseason. (Matt Marton \/ Imagn Images via Reuters Connect)<\/p>\n
In Saturday\u2019s sixth inning, with the Cubs having just taken a two-run lead, Brown faced one of his few difficult moments. Two men were on with one down, and the Cardinals\u2019 No. 2 hitter, Iv\u00e1n Herrera, stepped to the plate. Brown threw three consecutive sinkers and eventually induced a critical inning-ending double play.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt simplifies the game,\u201d Brown said. \u201cYou\u2019re never too far out of it. It gets you the ability to get deeper into ballgames, gets you more trust. I\u2019m thankful for those pitches, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown credits a newfound confidence with his success. The added pitches certainly help. Who knows which came first? The bottom line is Brown has gone from barely making the playoff roster last fall to being an essential part of a Cubs rotation that desperately needs some consistency.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the type of metamorphosis good teams need to excel. The Cubs\u2019 staff still needs more help, but Brown is establishing himself as a key cog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe confidence, the added pitches, the struggles of last year, they\u2019re all pieces that get you to the present,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThey all matter. They\u2019re all relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST LOUIS \u2014 Last fall, the Chicago Cubs were debating their roster for a playoff series against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,363,99],"class_list":["post-675910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}