Albeit in a pair of losses, Cubs right-handed pitcher Ben Brown has commanded some attention in his first two appearances of the season.
Brown has gone 6 2/3 innings in long relief, split evenly between the season-opening 10-4 loss to the Nationals and Monday night’s 2-0 loss to the Angels. He has allowed just two runs (on a home run), struck out eight and walked only two.
Under the hood, there are even more encouraging signs for Brown moving forward as he continues to shape his role with the 2026 team.
Brown battled for the final spot in the Chicago bullpen during Spring Training, and a 3.72 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings won him the job over Javier Assad and others.
Acquired from the Phillies in the 2022 David Robertson trade, Brown has always had tantalizing potential with an upper-90s fastball and a unique breaking ball often labeled a knuckle curve. His shortcomings as a starter, though, have been giving up hard contact, failing to locate his fastball and lacking a third offering to keep hitters guessing.
Well, the 26-year-old pelted the strike zone Monday night in a scoreless appearance. He threw 39 strikes among 50 total pitches, inducing nine whiffs -- five on the four-seamer, three on the curveball and one on a new sinker that he’s showing some confidence in.
The sinker, which he learned from Mets pitcher Clay Holmes in the offseason, has racked up two of his eight punchouts thus far. It essentially replaced a changeup he never had full faith in; he’s thrown 22 sinkers and just three changeups in 2026.
The fastball, meanwhile, has found the strike zone 66.7% of the time, a huge early jump from last year’s 59%. Opponents’ hard-hit rate on that pitch has dropped significantly, too, from 51.1% in 2025 to 37.5% so far in 2026.
Unsurprisingly, more pitches in the zone has also allowed Brown to get more chase from opposing batters. He’s seen a slight increase in that metric from 28.7% last season to 30.8% this year. Thus, his still-lethal breaking pitch (38.5% whiff rate) has been able to thrive, generating three early strikeouts.
Some have wondered whether Brown’s profile would better fit him as a reliever. The 6-foot-6 righty can run his four-seamer up to 98 mph, a needed piece in a Cubs bullpen that does not feature many pitchers with overwhelming velocity.
But Brown’s value could be much higher in the rotation, and he has stayed stretched out in this long-relief role, providing important depth if and when necessary. A 2026 breakout would be a welcomed sight in Wrigleyville.