Ben Brown changed the shape of his season by changing his pitches. The Cubs right-hander said he developed a sinker and changeup this offseason, and that work has helped turn him into a useful option both in the rotation and out of the bullpen.
Brown is scheduled to start against the Braves in Atlanta on Thursday, opposite Chris Sale, after a stretch in which he has been handling more than a spot role. He has thrown a team-high 25% of the innings out of the bullpen this season and owns a 2.10 ERA with 10 strikeouts and eight walks in relief. That is a sharp turn from last year, when he posted a 5.92 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP over 106.1 innings while starting 15 games and moving between the rotation and bullpen.
The numbers point to why the adjustment has mattered. Opposing hitters batted.315 with a.526 slugging percentage against Brown’s four-seamer last season, and the pitch drew a 14.8 percent whiff rate. This year, he has leaned on the sinker 42 percent of the time against right-handed hitters, and batters are hitting just.217 against it with an 82.9 mph average exit velocity. His changeup has also given him another answer, used 5.6 percent of the time almost exclusively against left-handers. Brown has thrown 25 changeups so far, and the pitch sits at 90.4 miles per hour with a 40 percent whiff rate.
That mix has given the Cubs something they badly needed. Brown returned to the rotation when Matthew Boyd needed meniscus surgery, and the club has spent much of the season shuffling arms because of injuries. Brown has bounced between the starting rotation, bullpen and Iowa over the past couple of years, but the new pitches have made the role less rigid. His first two appearances this season were both three-inning outings, and he has gone at least two innings in eight of his last 10 appearances. In one recent stretch, he even threw four no-hit innings against the Rangers, needing just 46 pitches to get through them while throwing nine sinkers and four changeups.
Brown’s previous issue was never a lack of stuff. The problem was sequencing, predictability and location, and the sinker-changeup combination gives hitters a different look than the four-seamer that was getting hit hard a year ago. He said he did not expect it to take long to get stretched out as a starter, and the Cubs appear willing to test that belief again on Thursday. If Brown carries the same command he showed against Texas into Atlanta, the rotation picture may be harder to change than it has been all year.
