PHOENIX \u2014 Chicago Cubs pitcher Ben Brown, who\u2019s attempting to come back from a chronic neck injury, experienced a setback that puts his return for the stretch run in doubt.<\/p>\n
Brown, one of the club\u2019s most valuable pitchers, has been sidelined for over two months with a stress reaction in his neck, an injury that also wiped out a significant portion of his 2024 season.<\/p>\n
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Brown felt symptoms after throwing two innings during Tuesday\u2019s controlled scrimmage at the organization\u2019s Arizona complex. Brown is scheduled to travel with the major-league team back to Chicago after Wednesday\u2019s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks for further examination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to kind of regroup,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe\u2019ll probably check back in with the doctors and see what it means.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout this three-game series at Chase Field, several rehabbing pitchers have popped into the visiting clubhouse, taking advantage of its proximity to the Mesa facility to reconnect with teammates and staffers.<\/p>\n
Counsell and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy were among the Cubs officials in attendance Tuesday at Sloan Park to watch Brown pitch against a minor-league lineup of Diamondbacks as well as to evaluate multiple pitchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen looked great throwing,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cHe said the symptoms popped up at the end of the outing and then worsened as the hours went on. We\u2019ll just have to see what comes of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Until this setback, the Cubs talked optimistically about Brown being on the verge of starting a minor-league rehab assignment, which could have potentially had him ready by the middle of September.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has felt great,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThere was no bad news. That was the first day of bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown, who will turn 27 next month, has shown so many flashes of potential since the Cubs acquired him as an A-ball prospect in the David Robertson trade with the Philadelphia Phillies at the 2022 deadline.<\/p>\n
While the Cubs dealt with a deluge of injuries earlier this season, Brown stabilized the pitching staff by functioning as both a high-leverage reliever and a top-of-the-rotation starter, posting a 1.85 ERA across 68 innings.<\/p>\n
With his versatility, swing-and-miss stuff and 6-foot-6 stature, Brown could have added another dimension to a potential playoff roster, but those plans are now on pause.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not sure yet what this means,\u201d Counsell said, \u201cbut it\u2019s going to slow it down in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Chicago Cubs pitcher Ben Brown, who\u2019s attempting to come back from a chronic neck injury, experienced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[479,363,99],"class_list":["post-826898","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\/826898","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=826898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}