Ben Brown - Athletic Article

[Tim]

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Sarris: By Stuff+, Brown is one of the most intriguing Triple-A starters in baseball. Look at his feel for spin as evidenced by gaudy numbers for two (three?) separate breaking balls. At the very least, those breaking balls mean he has a pitch that can get swinging strikes from either hand. Since his four-seam is his best fastball, it should work against lefties or righties too.

The problem is, of course, in that second column. He showed below-average Location+ for both his hard slider and his four-seam in the minors last year. Among the 50 young pitcher breakouts in the Stuff+ era, only one (Andy Ashby) did so without above-average command of the four-seamer, sinker or slider. The sweeper isn’t usually a pitch that you can work backward off, either, because of its large shape and platoon splits.

So we will be watching his fastball and slider command most of all this spring and early in the season. It’s what will separate him from being the power closer he could also end up being.

Arcadipane: At 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, Brown is an imposing figure on the mound and has power stuff coming from a high slot. He works his 97 mph four-seam to the upper half against both hands and his 85 mph slider to the lower half. He’s able to throw the slider for in-zone strikes or out-of-zone for chase against left-handed hitters. The sweeper comes into play against right-handed hitters — Brown uses it to get swing-and-miss in the zone and to get chase off the outer third.

In Triple A, the upper-half four-seam seemed to be a big problem for opposing hitters of both hands. Pairing that hard four-seam up with a strong slider/sweeper (both of which he can command very well) led to many uncompetitive swings.

A very intriguing prospect, Brown has the stuff to be an impact high-strikeout pitcher and overall tough out. Control is the biggest area of improvement for Brown, as it is slightly below average and can be inconsistent at times. He suffered an oblique injury last season but is expected to join the major-league rotation early this season.

Good stuff from the athletic.

[CubinNY]

Pittsburgh is definitely on the rise. It should be an interesting season. If Skeens and Jones have a good year that is a solid 1-2.