Ben Brown was as good as advertised as he made his major league debut this past week, and that comes as no surprise for anyone who watched him excel at Ward Melville just a few years ago. Brown was just what the doctor ordered, or in this case what his head coach Craig Counsell needed. After blowing an eight run lead the night before, Brown shut down the San Diego Padres in his first big-league start for 4 2/3 shutout innings at Petco Park. The Padres managed just three hits, one walk and struck out five times against the East Setauket native.
Counsell took notice of the performance and said “He’s done a nice job and he’s getting a ton of feedback on being a major-league starter and going through the lineup a couple times and that’s great for him,” Counsell said. But, it wasn't just his own manager that took notice of the excellent debut. Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez commented "I think they have something special in this kid."
The 4 2/3 innings isn't indicative of how well he pitched because he was on a pitch count. Before Brown’s start, manager Craig Counsell said the Cubs needed to be a little careful with his pitch count because Brown had not been fully stretched out before replacing injured Justin Steele. Brown, at 77 pitches, was replaced by Drew Smyly with two outs in the fifth.
Brown was brilliant in the strike zone all night with 11 called strikes and five whiffs with his fastball, which topped out at 98.4 mph. But, it's his knuckle-curve that has turned heads. Brown's knuckle-curve was featured on Pitching Ninja, a popular X account that highlights the day's best pitches, and the fact that he throws such a hard fastball will only lead to much more success with the off speed pitches. He already has a 46.9 percent whiff rate off of that pitch.
Brown will likely get another start while the Cubs deal with injuries to Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon, but it will be hard to take him out of the rotation even when they return if he is pitching like this. It looks like either Brown or Javier Assad will have to move to the bullpen. Assad has allowed just two runs in his two starts this season. It was known that openers would be a trend for the Cubs this season and with that in mind Brown knows that his role for the Cubs this season will be vital and he will get plenty of innings to continue to turn heads and make all of Long Island proud of their star in the making.