Ben Brown earned a golden opportunity last year, when he began the season in the starting rotation after returning from a fluke injury that disrupted his solid rookie campaign in 2024. Unfortunately, Brown could not keep his spot and was eventually given a chance in the bullpen, but he was ousted from the pitching staff entirely down the stretch. He’s been on a mission in the offseason to learn a new pitch and now it appears as though Brown is in position to steal a spot on the Chicago Cubs Opening Day roster.
The Cubs made several moves in the offseason that pretty much moved Brown down in the depth chart. His chances of being in the rotation mix at the beginning of the year took a major blow after the Cubs traded Owen Caissie for Edward Cabrera. Justin Steele is expected to come back from his elbow surgery in May or early June, while Shōta Imanaga accepted the qualify offer and confirmed his return to the team in the offseason. Meanwhile, Cade Horton has risen to near ace status in the rotation, while Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon serve as the veterans in the pitching staff.
In free agency the Cubs were uncharacteristically active in signing relievers. Besides Daniel Palencia, Caleb Thielbar and Colin Rea, the bullpen will have a brand new look in 2026. There is one open slot in the eight-man bullpen and now that we’re a week away from Opening Day the Cubs may be sending a subtle hint that Brown could be the man to take it.
Brown pitched multiple innings in his first four appearances in spring training for the Cubs this year as the right-hander was going through a normal ramp up for a starting pitcher. On March 14, Brown tossed four innings and threw 51 pitches against the Colorado Rockies. At that stage it looked like Brown was going to continue to be stretched out to be in the starting rotation at Triple-A to begin the regular season.
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However, on Wednesday Brown was back on the mound for the Cubs in spring training and instead of building up his pitch count he came to pitch one inning of relief. The righty threw 24 pitches in his scoreless inning of work against the Arizona Diamondbacks and now it kind of feels like the Cubs could be prepping him to begin the year in the bullpen.
Via the Chicago Tribune.
It’s not yet clear whether the Cubs will option Brown to Triple-A Iowa to begin the season so he can stay stretched out to give them starting pitching depth, or if they’ll put him in the big-league bullpen initially so they have another multi-inning arm as the rest of the starters continue to build their pitch count early in the season.
Considering the struggles of Taillon in spring training, it could be sensible to have Brown in the bullpen ready to come in if there’s ever a short outing from a starter like Taillon.
We’ll see where Brown ends up, but it’s been good to see that his new-found sinker is leading to positive results. He’s always had the talent and potential, but Brown was missing a third pitch. So far, so good with the sinker in spring training as Brown has struck out 17, walked three.
