The good news about yesterday’s rainout is that the back-to-back canceled games gave the Cubs’ battered bullpen another day to rest and recover heading into their series with the Mets. Healthy arms are a scarce commodity on the North Side of Chicago these days, so anything that gives pitchers a shot at a little more rest and recovery probably allows manager Craig Counsell and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy to breathe a sigh of relief.
Speaking of a bit of extra recovery time, most of the Cubs roster
will likely get a few extra days to recover in July during the All-Star break. However, there is one Cubs starting pitcher who might have a solid case to pitch in the Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia.
Ben Brown has been one of the best stories in Chicago this summer. He started the season in the bullpen after struggling to get guys out later in games as a starter last season. However, he also added a sinker he’s throwing about 21% of the time this season and that pitch has proven to be a game-changing weapon for Brown. Batters are hitting just .224 off Brown’s sinker and they are slugging an abysmal .245 against it. It’s a visible improvement:
Brown has improved in his effectiveness across the board. He’s sacrificed a bit of pure strikeout stuff and about a percentage fewer whiffs for more effective outs and better results. You can see how that all comes together in this highlight reel from his seven inning, three hit effort in St. Louis at the end of May. He’s basically still using his knuckle curve and four-seamer for most of his strikeouts, but the sinker gives him a way to induce weak contact when necessary [VIDEO].
With a 1.85 ERA off a 2.50 FIP through 68 innings this season, Brown has been outstanding. In eight games and 42.1 innings as a starting pitcher he’s got an even better 1.70 ERA and 2.39 FIP. Opposing batters are slashing just .179/.244/.245 against Brown as a starting pitcher this season.
Brown has been the most valuable pitcher on the Cubs by a wide margin with 2.0 fWAR in 68 innings compared to Shōta Imanaga’s 0.9 fWAR in 86.2 innings. That all seems worthy of a trip to Philadelphia to my eyes. It’s hard to imagine this Cubs team being over .500 without the work that Brown has put in this season both in the bullpen and as a starting pitcher.
