Cubs' most important bounceback candidate sounds more confident than ever

Every few outings, Ben Brown turns in an appearance where you understand the hype and excitement. He mows down hitters and looks like a legitimate big-league rotation piece.

Then, he gets knocked around his next three or four outngs and you're left scratching your head. Nobody is questioning the potential - but he's yet to live up to it, at least on a consistent basis. But he's doing a good job of rewriting the narrative this spring, thanks to a blossoming confidence and a new-look arsenal.

Brown sounds like a totally different pitcher - and that makes sense. He's been downright dominant in Cactus League action, piling up 15 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings of work, limiting opponents to a .205 batting average. He's feeling himself and has everyone dreaming of him finally becoming his best self in 2026.

“I believe that I’m capable of doing these things, I’m capable of bouncing back from these things,” Brown told the Chicago Tribune this week. “Bad times are going to come but just got to kind of ride with it. And same thing for today, like, you can take a good outing and be super pessimistic about it, and just say, ‘Oh, it was just a fluke. It was just in spring training’ or ‘maybe they weren’t ready for it’ or whatever the case may be."

Mets pitcher Clay Holmes helped Ben Brown reshape his arsenal

The right-hander, who came to the Cubs in the David Robertson with the Phillies in 2022, spent the offseason working with New York Mets right-hander Clay Holmes, picking up a sinker and folding it into his offerings that already included a four-seamer, curve and occasional change-up.

With a crowded rotation picture, there's not a clear path to regular starts with Chicago - at least not as things currently stand. But as everyone knows, it takes more than five starters to get through 162 regular-season contests - and Brown has experience pivoting back and forth between the pen and rotation.

“I feel like I’m in a much better spot than I was last year,” Brown said. “The resilience and the ability to pitch in different situations is something that I need to add to my repertoire and to be confident in. And that doesn’t mean I can’t stop dreaming of what my career could be like, but for right now, what can my day look like? That’s the focus. … Wherever I am right now is where I have to be and be my best because I didn’t really do a good job of that last year.

With a newfound swagger and confidence, could this be the year of Ben Brown?