Chicago Cubs: Is this young pitcher an x-factor or just dead weight?

The Chicago Cubs seem determined not to repeat the mistakes made last season when they simply didn’t have enough pitching depth to carry them through the postseason.

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This offseason, aside from bringing back Shota Imanaga and Caleb Thielbar for at least one more season, they also went about re-arming a depleted bullpen with four free agent signings and stockpiling a load of pitchers via minor league deals. Their biggest move, though, came in trading for the Miami Marlins’ emerging power pitcher Edward Cabrera, who will be penciled in somewhere between the no. 2 and no. 4 slots in the starting rotation.

Amid all the pitching moves this offseason, some of the holdovers from 2025 have been overlooked.

Ben Brown is one of those overlooked holdovers.

Ben Brown’s rough (but also promising) 2025

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Admittedly, after a rough 2025, it’s easy to overlook the 6-foot-6 righty. A 5.92 ERA over 25 appearances, along with the second-worst average exit velocity allowed in all of baseball, are not points of pride. Things like that will definitely get you put on the back burner of a team with serious postseason aspirations.

But the 26-year-old could actually be a low-key X factor on this 2026 Cubs squad.

Brown, who came over from the Philadelphia Phillies organization in a 2022 trade deadline deal for reliever David Robertson, has shown moments of brilliance throughout his short 2-season major league career. In 2025, for instance, he led MLB in knuckle curve strikeouts with 83.

The raw tools are there for excellence, but the consistency has not been.

Where do you pitch him?

In 2026, another problem promises to complicate Brown’s ability to contribute to the big league Cubs– the question of where to actually use him.

With the starting rotation filled (and soon to be overflowing with the return of Justin Steele) and swing man gigs going to the more established Colin Rea and Javier Assad, Brown seems stuck to third-tier bullpen duty on the Cubs’ pitching staff, if he breaks spring training with the team at all.

Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy sees the possibilities in Brown, but shares that uncertainty concerning how to use him.

“For me, I 100% see him as a starter,” Hottovy told media earlier in the offseason. “He’s got the upside to be a really good power pitcher in the back end of the bullpen, but you don’t want to just crown that. You want that to kind of happen. Sometimes it happens because it’s what the team needs. Sometimes it happens because the player shows you that’s his best role.”

Realities and expectations

As of right now, there appears to be more closer potential than front-of-rotation potential. A relatively limited pitch arsenal (with the fastball and knuckle curve accounting for 95.5% of his pitches in 2025) would seem to put a cap on how far he could go as a starter. His 96+ mph fastball and his ability to induce whiffs with the knuckle curve, though, could be maximized as tools in shorter one or two-inning appearances.

Brown, himself, acknowledges his versatility as a plus for his ability to contribute to a team that is focusing on depth and maneuverability.

“I think that’s something I need to embrace even more,” Brown recently told Marquee Sports Network. “Doesn’t matter what role I’m in or where I’m at. I got to go out there and pitch and compete and focusing and honing in on that will be huge.”

But what else could he say, right?

With the rotation set and the bullpen restocked, Brown’s role will have to be as a “wherever, whenever he can” pitcher and as insurance against injury.

It’s in him to surprise, though. And if he does manage to put it all together this season, he could be an unexpected key to 2026 success.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-ben-brown-2026-preview