Just how good Ben Brown has been for the Cubs this year might shock you

Not a lot has gone the Chicago Cubs' way this year between a litany of pitching injuries and a recent slump that sent them from the top of the NL Central back down to the frustratingly familiar territory of looking up at Milwaukee in the standings. It's enough to have Cubs fans ruminating on offseason regrets, but that doesn't mean there aren't still some important bright spots on this team that have helped keep them from falling even further behind.

Those bright spots deserve to be celebrated, and there may be none bigger than the emergence of right-hander Ben Brown. Now in his third major league season, Brown has flirted with success in the past but has never quite put it all together and lived up to the tantalizing potential that has always looked so promising. Until now, that is. Brown has been a revelation this year, posting dominant numbers both in the bullpen and the rotation that are even better than you might realize.

As Matt Clapp of Awful Announcing noted recently, Brown is one of the top pitchers in all of baseball this year in a variety of stats when looking at hurlers with at least 50 innings of work under their belts. The 1.92 ERA is a top-ten figure in the majors, which is obviously impressive, but even more exciting is that just three pitchers have a lower FIP than Brown's 2.19: Cam Schlitter, Jacob Misiorowski, and Cristopher Sanchez. That's excellent company to keep.

Ben Brown's ascent to stardom is actually sustainable

Of course, Brown wouldn't be the first pitcher to briefly show elite ability at the big league level before crashing back to Earth. Cubs fans surely remember the flash of brilliance Hayden Wesneski offered in his first few outings after being promoted, which he failed to live up to for the rest of his tenure with the organization before being traded to the Astros and going under the knife. That shouldn't deter anyone from getting excited about Brown, however, as the data offers evidence of sustainability.

Brown's upside has always been limited by his status as a two-pitch pitcher, but that's no longer the case this year. A look at Baseball Savant reveals that Brown's added another pitch to his repertoire this year. After throwing zero sinkers in 2025, he's throwing the pitch 19.4 percent of the time this year. He's also throwing his changeup slightly more often (6.6 percent), and with a whiff rate north of 40% on the pitch, it now looks like a legitimate offering against lefties.

The changes to Brown's repertoire have shown up in the data immediately. His ground ball rate is up ten points from his career norms since adding his sinker, and more grounders can only be a good thing when playing in front of the Cubs' elite infield gloves. He's also allowing less damaging contact now that he has another pitch to keep hitters off balance. His 6.8 percent barrel rate this year is actually slightly better than the league average, a massive jump from his career 11.3 percent rate entering 2026.

With those changes under his belt, there's reason to believe that Brown could be a fixture at the front of the Cubs' rotation for years to come and offer the sort of upside the Cubs thought they'd have in their starting five before they lost Cade Horton for the year. Of course, all of that would hinge on Brown not being used as a trade chip over the summer to get an even bigger arm into the mix at Wrigley Field.

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