Jed Hoyer came into a tough spot and he had to make extremely unpopular decisions after it became evident that the team’s previous core was no longer going to stay intact. The Chicago Cubs got two of their current top-100 prospects from a few of their deals in 2021, but the David Robertson trade from 2022 is starting to look like highway robbery, too.
To be fair, the Philadelphia Phillies did make it to the postseason, won the National League and pushed the Houston Astros to six games in the World Series, as Robertson stepped up in the playoffs. The veteran right-hander only allowed one earned run in his eight postseason relief appearances, which included four scoreless innings in the World Series. But now, Robertson is with the New York Mets and the Cubs have one of the most exciting pitching prospects down at Double-A.
Right-handed pitcher Ben Brown was selected in the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies straight out of high school in New York. After his first few years in the Phillies minor league system, Brown appeared to be making the next big step in his development in 2019, as he began that season with 13.1 shutout innings. Unfortunately, Brown learned that he needed Tommy John surgery, shutting him down for the rest of 2019 and he wouldn’t pitch in game again until the 2021 season.
Understandably, Brown struggled in his first action since the elbow surgery, but he turned the corner in 2022, recording a 3.08 ERA in 73 innings at advanced A-Ball. Then, the Phillies traded Brown to the Cubs for David Robertson on Aug. 2, 2022.
The Cubs promoted Brown to Double-A after acquiring him and he finished the 2022 season with a 4.06 ERA, striking out 44 batters in 31 innings with the Tennessee Smokies.
Brown, now 23-years-old, is dominating hitters at Double-A to begin the 2023 season.
On Friday, Brown made his third start of the season for the Smokies and he turned in his longest outing of the year thus far. He allowed his first run, but Brown was mowing down the opposition, striking out nine, while allowing just four hits and no walks in six innings.
Ben Brown First 3 Starts at Double-A in 2023
15 Innings Pitched
1 ER, 7 H, 22 K, 6 BB
0.60 ERA, 0.87 WHIP
Brown is holding opposing hitters to a .146 batting average. In his first start of 2023, Brown pitched four, no-hit innings against the Birmingham Barons, the White Sox Double-A affiliate.
It is awesome to see on what seems like a daily basis that a Cubs pitching prospect has a great start. So, you know about Ben Brown, but I have to bring up right-hander Brandon Birdsell, too, because he has been amazing with the South Bend Cubs to begin the 2023 season.
The Cubs took Birdsell in the fifth round out of Texas Tech in the 2022 draft. He had four, no-hit innings on Friday and through 10.2 innings, Birdsell has only given up a total of two hits, which both came in his second start.
And if you missed it, there were a few more guys that were nearly perfect last week as well.
After so many years of not having pitching prospects to look forward to, the Cubs now have a bunch that should excite fans.
