What began as the best surprise of the 2026 season for the Chicago Cubs suddenly turned into one of the biggest disappointments, and it all had to do with a non-pitching injury for Ben Brown. The right-hander was legitimately pitching like the best starter on the Cubs, and he was arguably one of the hottest starters in baseball before a neck strain put him on the injured list in June.
Brown missed the final three months of the 2024 season with what was originally said to be a neck strain. The truth was, the Cubs couldn’t exactly narrow down what Brown was dealing with. Eventually, the pitcher was diagnosed with an osteoma, a new piece of bone growing as a benign tumor on another piece of bone that was creating pain in his neck.
This time around, when the symptoms appeared to be the same, all the Cubs could do was wait for Brown to feel better before pushing him back to the mound. Brown has not pitched for the Cubs since June 19, but after weeks of waiting for any positive news, the Cubs finally have an awesome update.
Marquee Sports Network’s Taylor McGregor provided the latest development on Brown’s recovery during Tuesday night’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Via Marquee Sports Network.
“Ben Brown is symptom-free and has begun throwing, so from this point forward, it’s just a matter of building himself back up to get ready to pitch in the major leagues again.”
Before the neck issue, Brown recorded a 1.85 ERA in 20 games. That included eight starts in which the right-hander posted a 1.70 ERA, 25.0 K%, 0.90 WHIP, and only allowed one home run in 42.1 innings, while keeping opponents to a .179 batting average.
He completely changed his pitching style, incorporating a new sinker/two-seamer into his arsenal, which helped Brown go from a good arm to a great pitcher. After being lit up by hitters in 2025, Brown suddenly became a ground-ball pitcher this year, while maintaining an above-average strikeout rate; walks have not been an issue, and he was carrying the rotation for about a month.
Getting Brown back for the stretch run would be massive for the Cubs.
