Is Top Prospect Realistic Bullpen Option This Season for Chicago Cubs?

The Chicago Cubs' No. 6 overall prospect is putting together a fine season in the minors and it's making Ben Brown a potential option.

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Ben Brown is pitching his way into an option for the Chicago Cubs at some point this season. But will it be as a starter or in the bullpen?

The Cubs acquired Brown last season in the David Robertson trade, which went down at the trade deadline. Brown immediately slipped into the Cubs’ Top 30 prospect at MLB.com and he’s now ranked No. 6.

The right-hander is projected as a 2024 call-up for the Cubs. But that call could come earlier, based on his play with Triple-A Iowa.

Brown last pitched on Friday, during which he went four innings, giving up four hits and six runs. But, only three of those runs were earned. He struck out four and walked five.

The game was an anomaly in context to this season for the 6-foot-6 prospect. He’s hit double-digit strikeouts twice this season and has walked four or more hitters just one other time this season.

In 10 starts he’s 4-3 with a 2.63 ERA after starting the season at Double-A Tennessee. He has 70 strikeouts against 23 walks batters are hitting .198 against him.

Brown has been a pro since 2017, when the Phillies took him in the 33rd round of the draft out of Ward Melville in East Setauket, N.Y. At 23, he’s closing in on being ready.

If the Cubs need bullpen help, Brown could be an option as a call-up. Because of his long career in the minors and his high strikeout rate, Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy isn’t worried if the Cubs call up Brown to be strictly a reliever, even though he only has a handful of relief appearances in the minors.

Per The Athletic:

“He has that mentality,” Hottovy said. “He’s not a guy that I’m concerned about if he comes up and we throw him in the bullpen. He’s not going to be, ‘Oh, I got my routine and I do all this.’ He’s like, ‘Give me the ball, I just want to throw.’ So, yeah, any role that he’s in, I feel confident in him being able to do it. You see a lot of organizations give young pitchers their opportunity to come up and pitch in the bullpen. It’s a good way to give them a major-league feel, get them competing and prove that they can get guys out at a high level.”

Brown is coming off a 2022 in which he struck out a career-high 149 hitters in 23 games (22 starts). Through 10 games he has nearly half of last year’s total.

That sort of strikeout rate is something the Cubs could see value in for the bullpen this season. 

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