Ben Brown begged pro teams to draft and sign him. He's now a big prospect for the Cubs.
Veteran baseball scout Larry Izzo wasn’t sure what to expect as he settled in to watch a high school baseball game between Ward Melville and Longwood in New York in April of 2017.
Izzo, a New York Mets scout, was told by Ward Melville coach Lou Petrucci to swing by that day's game, scheduled to start early at 10 a.m., so he could get a glance at right-handed pitcher Ben Brown, who plays for the Iowa Cubs these days.
Izzo had already seen Brown in the fall when he was heaving fastballs in the low 80s. Petrucci promised this time would be different. So Izzo grabbed a seat behind home plate and locked his radar gun on Brown. He quickly saw what the high school coach meant. Brown started pumping 90 mph fastballs into the catcher’s mitt.
Nine of Brown's pitched touched at least 90 mph.
“I saw a few innings and I went over and said to (Petrucci), ‘You were right,’” Izzo said.
Many college coaches had already given up on Brown after he ruptured his appendix. Petrucci had to beg college coaches to watch him pitch. Brown told Major League Baseball teams he’d do whatever it took to sign with them. But Brown eventually proved himself worthy of becoming not only a draft pick but now a prized pitching prospect for the Chicago Cubs.
“Obviously there’s a little chip on your shoulder because I’ve been betting on myself my entire career,” Brown said. “But at the same time, I’m just going out there and competing and having fun.”
'Every single school I was talking to stopped talking to me.'
Brown's potential was hard to miss early on. He checked in at 6-foot-2 as a sophomore, owned a high 80s fastball and went 7-0 on Petrucci’s varsity squad. Petrucci coached future MLB pitchers Steven Matz and Anthony Kay and saw the same sort of upside in Brown. Even Matz, who returned to the high school to work out with some of the team’s pitchers, was impressed.
“Steven told him, he goes, ‘You’re going to get drafted out of here,’” Petrucci recalled.
Brown was well on his way, with college coaches showing tons of interest at the end of his sophomore season. Brown said he had narrowed his choices down to five potential schools. But his career took an unexpected turn when he suffered the ruptured appendix three games into his junior season.
Brown was confined to a hospital for seven days. He lost close to 30 pounds. The timing couldn’t have been worse, with Brown’s recruiting heating up. When Brown got back on the mound, he wasn’t the same. His mechanics were off. His velocity dipped. And attention he had been getting completely disappeared.
“Every single school I was talking to stopped talking to me,” Brown said.
Petrucci did his best to build interest in Brown. But it wasn’t easy. He scheduled a trip to Georgia for the team to play and lined up some college coaches to see Brown throw. When Brown could only unleash fastballs in the low 80s, he noticed the coaches start to leave. The long list of offers he had been expecting to pour in during the start of his high school career never came. Instead, he got only one. From Siena.
Even Izzo needed some convincing. The longtime scout had already seen Brown pitch before and talked to the pitcher’s parents about how he thought college was the best next step for him. But Izzo, who trusted Petrucci, was convinced by the coach to look at the pitcher again. Things were different this time around.
Brown had grown. His velocity had returned. He looked like a completely different pitcher. Izzo walked around the side of the field during Brown's start to get different views of him. Everything he saw, he liked. Izzo was so impressed, he changed his evaluation. He thought Brown could be a pro right away.
The only reason other teams started taking an interest in Brown was because of Izzo. As word got out that the well-respected scout was checking on Brown, others began to follow.
“When the other guys see Larry Izzo at a game, they all flock to the same game,” Petrucci said. “I watched it happen.”
The potential was there in Brown. But there were still concerns after all he’d been through. Not everyone was sold. And with Brown having only a short senior season to prove he had regained his form, not everyone was interested.
Brown was desperate to be a pro, though. He let organizations know on every draft questionnaire that he filled out that he was willing to do whatever it took to sign. Brown, who didn’t have an agent, told teams he didn’t care what the dollar figure was. He would sign.
“I wanted to do what I could to play because I really believed I would be a major-leaguer one day,” Brown said.
The Philadelphia Phillies came calling in the 33rd round. Brown was such a late draft pick that he found out on Twitter that he had been selected. An area scout called him shortly after. He eventually signed for what he called “a lot less than slot.” Brown, who had promised to sign for anything, was held to that.
“They sure took me up on that,” Brown said with a laugh.
Brown becomes a prized pitching prospect for the Chicago Cubs
Like his high school career, it took some time for Brown to gain some traction in the pros.
He underwent elbow surgery in 2019 and didn’t pitch in 2020 when the Minor League Baseball season was canceled due to COVID-19. Brown returned to the mound in 2021 and compiled a 1-0 mark with a 6.19 ERA in seven outings. The following season he went 3-5 with a 3.08 ERA in 16 outings with Philadelphia’s high-A affiliate.
It was enough to impress the Cubs’ scouts and analysts who saw tons of potential in his young arm, according to Jared Banner, Chicago’s vice president of player development. They saw so much potential that Brown was the lone pickup for the Cubs when they dealt David Robertson to the Phillies.
“Brown’s stuff continued to get better and better once he was able to log some innings after missing most of two years,” Banner said.
Brown got an apartment near the Cubs’ complex in Arizona during the off-season and made some big strides. He adjusted his arm action, a move that gave his fastball more ride. It also made it easier for Brown to throw his breaking balls for strikes. He also added a changeup and slider to his arsenal that already included a high 90s fastball and curveball.
The changes led to huge success, with Brown going 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 20 innings with Double-A Tennessee before being promoted to Iowa. During his first outing with Iowa, Brown struck out seven in 5.2 innings of work. Six days later, he tallied 10 strikeouts in five shutout innings.
“Just electric stuff as a starter,” said Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks.
Hendricks watched Brown throw in spring training and has gotten an up-close look at his stuff in Triple-A while rehabbing with Iowa this season. He's a big believer in the 23-year-old.
“He’s going to be really good," Hendricks said.
The success has made Brown one of the most coveted arms in the system, with MLB Pipeline ranking him as the sixth-best prospect in the organization and third-best pitcher. While it may be a shock to many who saw him early in his career, it’s not a surprise to Brown. This is what he anticipated happening.
“I don’t go out there trying to stick it to all the teams that passed on me,” Brown said. “I’m just more grateful that I had the opportunity to get drafted. In today’s game, I wouldn’t have even gone. My round doesn’t exist anymore.”
Brown, coincidentally, wears No. 33 with Iowa. The number, while fitting, just happened to be what he got assigned. But in a weird way, it’s a constant reminder of what he’s been through and how hard he’s had to work to get to this point in his career.
“It’s definitely something I’m proud of,” Brown said.
Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468. Follow him on Twitter @TommyBirch.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Cubs pitching prospect Ben Brown proves the doubters wrong
