After his last start with Double-A Tennessee on April 27 against the Birmingham Barons, Ben Brown got pulled into the Manager’s office. The righty had just thrown five innings without allowing an earned run, striking out eight along the way.
He was pulled out of the clubhouse and was told he was getting promoted to Iowa to make his Triple-A debut. The young right-hander earned a promotion to Triple-A by starting the year with a 2-0 record and a 0.45 ERA in four starts with the Smokies.
Brown’s success didn’t just come out of nowhere, he put in a lot of work with the Cubs this off-season to learn and improve.
“I cleaned up some stuff and added a couple of pitches,†Brown said.
He added a slider and a changeup to the fastball and curveball he already had, giving him a four-pitch repertoire. Brown said he uses his slider a lot and the changeup is still a work in progress, but he likes the results he is getting with both pitches.
Adding pitches is not an easy task and is something that takes a lot of work to really feel comfortable with. He said the Cubs just sat down with him and communicated about everything, being very hands on in the entire process.
“It was just a big group effort between me and the Cubs,†he said.
The slider has helped him attack right-handed hitters and the changeup gives him something to keep hitters off his fastball. He said he usually throws it the second time through the lineup just to let his fastball have a little bit more freedom.
The work to add those two pitches started in the Cubs’ pitching lab this off-season, where Brown spent the entire winter. He said he lived in Arizona for the entire off-season and would walk to the complex five or six days a week to get some work done.
“I lived right next to the complex so I could see it when I looked out the window,†Brown said. “I’m a sucker for baseball so being down there all off-season was a no brainer.â€
Not only did he add two pitches during his time in Arizona this winter, he also worked on the pitches nad mechanics he had already established in previous years.
The 23-year-old said he cleaned up some arm action mechanics and adding pitches helped his fastball play even better than it was in previous seasons. The cleaning up gave Brown more ride on his fastball and made it easier for him to throw his breaking stuff for strikes, which was his main focus.
“It has just been a huge emphasis on command,†he said. “I came in a little early this year and it was a big off-season when it came to baseball.â€
This was Brown’s first off-season as a member of the Chicago Cubs organization, after getting traded from the Philadelphia Phillies on August 2, 2022.
He earned a promotion to Double-A within the Phillies system on August 1, and was traded to Chicago the next day, where he was assigned to Double-A Tennessee. He said before he knew who he got traded to, he was hoping it was the Cubs.
“My wife’s family is big Cubs fan and the organization has such deep history,†he said. “My father-in-law has cubs tattoos all over his arm and our dog’s name is Wrigley.â€
Brown hasn’t been in the system long, but he has impressed many in the organization, making a quick move from Double-A to Triple-A this season. He is the No. 7 ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system, coming in as the third pitching prospect overall.
Entering their current series against Toledo, he has pitched in one game with Iowa. In that game, he spun 5.2 innings, allowing just one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out seven.
