Ben Brown Interview: Finding a Stater’s Repertoire

Amid a sell-off by the Cubs in 2022, Chicago made what appeared as a minor deal, sending veteran reliever David Robertson to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Cubs acquired young right-hander Ben Brown. Drafted by Philadelphia in 2017, Brown had only pitched an the Advanced-A level.

Exceeding expectations, Brown moved up the Cubs pipeline rapidly. Going 5-0 in 11 games started for Double A Tennessee, Brown tossed a 2.65 ERA and 1.275 WHIP. At Triple-A Iowa in 2023, the Long Island native posted a 6-8 record in 15 starts. In those starts, Brown had an ERA of 5.70 and a WHIP of 1.528. The encouraging sign was that Brown struck out 100 batters against only 51 walks in 72.2 innings.

Spring Training 2024 saw Brown open some eyes for the the Cubs brass. After starting the season in Iowa, the Cubs All-Star lefty Justin Steele had to go on the IL. The Cubs would then come calling for Brown on March 30, having a roster spot open. In 15 appearances, which included 8 starts, Brown was 1-3 with a 3.58 ERA, 1.084 WHIP, and 64 strikeouts in 55.1 innings. A neck injury sidelined Brown on June 9 for the rest of the season.

Going into 2025, the 25 year-old was able to nail down the fifth spot in the rotation. As a part of the rotation, Brown showed flashes of brilliance but remained inconsistent. The first 5 starts saw Brown giving up 15 earned runs, going 2-2 with a 6.04 ERA. After blanking Milwaukee over 7 innings on May 2, Brown wavered again in his next 4 starts, yielding 19 earned runs over 19.1 innings. With the pattern continuing over his next 5 appearances, Brown was optioned to Iowa on June 24.

Ben Brown was gracious enough to grant an interview. Here is a look as to how Brown was doing at the time I spoke with him in July.

Tom Usiak: When you were optioned, what were you asked to work on by the Cubs?

Ben Brown: I was struggling up there. I wasn’t contributing the way I should be. There needs to be some accountability on my part. How are some ways that I can improve?

It was a little of a mental reset. Some of it was managing my workload, as well as continuing to develop my change-up, work on my execution with my fastball and curveball.

There’s a lot of different areas we can pull some stuff around. We’re doing a lot of cool stuff down here. I’m excited to be a part of the Cubs organization, top to bottom there’s a lot of transparency and a lot of really good coaches.

TU: Has there been anything as far as sequencing goes, something to work on with your pitches, sequencing them right so they can be more effective?

BB: (agreeing) Change-up usage has picked up. One of the challenges I was having was first time through order. It was just fastball-curveball, and I was having a lot of success. And then, I would start throwing my change-up second time around, but the feel for it just wasn’t there.

So, it was just three innings of fastball-curveball. How are you going to implement the change-up after really not using it? So, we’ve been throwing it to righties, throwing it to lefties; early on in the game. It ‘s been really encouraging to see some solid results. The side work has been good. The pre work has been good. So, I’ve just got to continue to see that through.

TU: So, in working on that change-up. Is that something that you are going to go into games with that in mind, or is it going to be more situational?

BB: I think our goal is just to be able to use the change-up the same way I use my curveball, as a power off-speed offering, and have that mentality around the change-up.

I feel it’s just having that mentality where its a crunch situation, I can throw that change-up. It doesn’t have to be my curveball, it doesn’t have to be my fastball. And that’s been really cool.

It’s been encouraging to see those results and understanding I can throw the and go down  two-o or one-o because of the change-up and I can still get back in the count just because my other offerings are so good. Or, I should say my offerings are effective enough.

TU: Do you have a preferred way of being used? Would you still like to be starting, or would you be comfortable working out of the bullpen?

BB: Yeah, I think we saw from what I was able to accomplish last year that the bullpen is a fine place for me.

But, as far as the reasoning for this move and what I’m trying to accomplish down here is to build a starter repertoire, and I don’t think that I’m here to build as a reliever right now. I’m here to build as a starter.

Its kind of like the goal for me and the organization; to not leave any stone unturned, and I’m just doing my part to have that come to fruition.

TU: Do you have any indication as to how you are going to go back up and contribute at the big league level?

BB: Yeah, I’m really open to anything, and I think they know that as well. But, as far as, I just have to wait my turn and continue to control what I can while I’m down here, and when an opportunity arises that I’ll be ready for it, whether it’s this year or next year or five years from now, I hope to be a big leaguer again, and I’m not hitting the panic button on that.

Author’s note: On July 21, three days after this interview, Ben Brown was recalled to the major leagues.