Did David Robertson Net the Chicago Cubs a Future Star in Ben Brown?

After being dealt to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for David Robertson, young right-hander Ben Brown chases continued success on the Northside.

© Doug Hood via Imagn Content Services, LLC

It was no surprise that the Chicago Cubs would be sellers when they reached the MLB trade deadline. 

Limping into Tuesday, August 1st 20 games under .500, the organization shifted its focus towards the future, looking to acquire prospects that could help them for the coming years ahead.

With his contract set to expire at the end of the season, the Cubs dealt 37-year-old veteran relief pitcher David Robertson to the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Robertson rejoined the Fightins after a brief stint with the team in the 2019 and shortened 2020 season. In a one-for-one trade heading back to Chicago was a young and intriguing right-handed pitcher. 

Taken in the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB draft out of West Melville High School in East Setauket, New York, Ben Brown joins the Cubs organization with much to prove, but with several reasons for excited about his talent.

Ben Brown delivers a pitch for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Phillies High-A Affiliate / © Doug Hood via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Brown is graded by scouts with a future value of 50. He has a 60-rated fastball that sits around 94-96 mph (topping out at 98), a 50-grade curveball that sits in the mid-80s, and a 55-grade slider that reaches the upper 80s. The 22-year-old is working on his changeup as he joins the club's Double-A starting rotation in Tennessee.

Pitching only 178 ⅓ innings pitched across five seasons at various levels in the Minor Leagues — due to Tommy John surgery in 2017, and the 2020 season cancelation — the right-hander has posted some of his best numbers in the minor leagues this season.

Spending most of his time before being dealt to Chicago with Philadelphia’s High-A affiliate, the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, Brown pitched to a 3.08 ERA with 105 strikeouts in 2022. He also posted career highs in games started (16), innings pitched (78), batting average against (.197) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.56). 

His best start came on July 17th against Baltimore-affiliate Aberdeen Ironbirds, in which he earned the win after seven innings of two-hit baseball, collecting 13 K's — he walked none. 

Currently ranked 11th on MLB.com’s Cubs top prospect list, Brown joins organizational pitchers Caleb Kilian and Hayden Wesneski as right-handers looking to make their way to Wrigley Field in the near future. Kilian, ranked as the sixth prospect, and Wesneski, ranked eighth, both find themselves one level above Brown with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs. 

With just a little under two months remaining in the minor league season, keep an eye out for Brown as he expectedly sets to conclude his season in AA with the Smokies. As he continues to rack up strong numbers in the minors and work towards adding a plus changeup to his pitch mix, all signs point to him becoming a valuable rotational piece for the Cubs in the years ahead. 

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