Ben

Brown

The Cubs having to place both Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera (hamstring) on the injured list on the same day is quite a blow. They’ll get Matthew Boyd (knee) back tomorrow, but this rotation will still be super short-handed. The hope is that Brown won’t be sidelined for much longer than his two weeks.

Brown’s knuckle curve baffled the Jays, who whiffed on the pitch 10 times in 22 swings. He allowed eight hard-hit balls but did more than enough to get the win after being staked to an early 7-0 lead as the Cubs bludgeoned Kevin Gausman. Brown hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a start so far, and it’s getting harder and harder to leave him out of the top-40 starting pitcher conversation. He’ll get a tasty matchup against the Mets next time out.

Brown allowed seven hits and walked three, which usually amounts to more than one run, but the Giants never managed a hit with RISP tonight. Brown moved to 3-2 with a 1.74 ERA. He’ll unfortunately miss the home series against the Rockies next week and likely make his next start Friday against the Blue Jays.

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.