Ben

Brown

Brown allowed just one hit and one walk (plus a HBP). He’s sporting a 1.44 ERA and a 34/8 K/BB in 31 1/3 innings since moving into the rotation last month. Next up for him is a start in Coors against the Rockies. While some fantasy leaguers might be able to do better in their weekly lineup, he’s still at least an adequate mixed-league option there.

It’s impressive just how efficient Brown has been since moving from the pen to the rotation. He got his 21 outs today on just 82 pitches, throwing 11 pitches or fewer in five of his seven innings of work. Brown is 2-2 with a 1.92 ERA in his five starts and 12 relief appearances and ought to be rostered everywhere by this point. He’ll face the Giants next Friday.

He generated 16 whiffs today and needed only 83 pitches to get his 18 outs. Brown is still winless as a starter, but he’s allowed a total of four runs over 19 innings in his four outings since moving from the bullpen to the rotation. He’s worth rostering in mixed leagues at this point, and he should be playable again versus the Cardinals this weekend.

Brown struck out six and generated 15 whiffs on 42 swings tonight, but he allowed seven hits and nine hard-hit balls. Still, that’s not a disaster. Brown got up to 82 pitches tonight after throwing 46 and 65 in his first two starts, both of which saw him pitch four scoreless innings. This would be a good time to pick him up in leagues in which he’s still available, as he has a two-start week against the Pirates and Cardinals coming up.

The 26-year-old right-hander allowed just one hit and one walk on the evening. Brown got stretched out to 65 pitches in this one, throwing 40 of those for strikes and getting nine swings and misses, leading to a CSW of 29 percent. Brown has proven that he belongs in the Cubs’ rotation and needs to be rostered and started in all fantasy leagues for Tuesday’s divisional showdown against the Brewers.

The Cubs’ starting pitcher corps has been depleted by injuries, so they called on Brown to return to their rotation and he delivered them four quality innings. He leaned on his knuckle-curve as his primary pitch and it forced five of his nine total swings-and-misses. Also, his fastball didn’t lose much velocity despite him throwing 46 pitches, the most he’s thrown in a single outing since March 31st. Javier Assad threw bulk innings in relief later in this game and it feels like these two could be in a piggy-back situation moving forward. If Brown sticks in the rotation for another turn, he’ll face the Braves in Atlanta.

Brown has been outstanding in a multi-inning role out of the Cubs’ bullpen this season, registering a 2.10 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and a 24/8 K/BB ratio over 25 2/3 innings in his 12 appearances. He has already pitched twice this week though, throwing 24 and 25 pitches on Saturday and Monday respectively, so it’s unlikely that he’ll work much deeper than three or four innings on Friday. For that reason, he’s unlikely to deliver much value as a streaming option for fantasy purposes.

After seven scoreless innings from Shota Imanaga, Brown took over in the eighth and gave the Cubs two clean frames to close it out for his first save of the season. The 26-year-old right-hander has been incredibly effective in this multi-inning relief role, posting a 1.82 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and a 23/7 K/BB ratio across 24 2/3 innings. Daniel Palencia (oblique) is expected to be activated in the coming days to resume closing duties.

Brown, who stranded the bases loaded after coming in with none out in the eighth, was robbed in broad daylight. Even though Brown had thrown just 11 pitches to get five outs, the Cubs brought in Milner to face Gavin Sheets with the bases empty. They had to know the Padres would counter, but since Milner wound up striking out pinch-hitter Ramón Laureano to end the game, it all worked out for Craig Counsell. Brown is still looking for his first save, and with Daniel Palencia close to returning, it might not materialize any time soon.

This is the first update we’ve had on Palencia since he was put on the injured list back on April 17th. It seems that Palencia won’t need a rehab assignment before returning to the Cubs. We’ll wait to see if Palencia can progress enough to actually return this weekend, but it seems like he’s not far off. That would take away most of the fantasy value for Ben Brown and Phil Maton.