After experiencing a setback in his quest to return to the Cubs this season, right-hander Ben Brown is done for the year.
Manager Craig Counsell said Thursday that Brown, who was sidelined in June by a stress fracture in a vertebra in his neck, won’t pitch again this season, snuffing out any hopes he could step in as a relief option down the stretch and in the postseason.
Reports about Brown’s rehab had been nothing but positive until he experienced symptoms during a live batting-practice session last week in Arizona.
Now the Cubs are forced to look to next season when it comes to a guy who was, when healthy, among the most effective pitchers in the majors earlier this season, posting a 1.70 ERA in eight starts.
‘‘After consulting with doctors, it’s just [that he needs] more rest,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘There’s healing but not enough to allow the discomfort to go away. So we need to spend more time healing.
‘‘The bone, it’s healing, but you can still see signs of an injury. The original thing was, ‘We’re going to rest for a bit, and then we’re going to go when we’re not re-creating symptoms.’ It worked until [last week].’’
Brown was among a group of rehabbing pitchers who might have given the Cubs an embarrassment of intriguing options come October — a group getting more attention in the middle of the rough patch the bullpen is enduring right now.
But the Cubs’ brass has been cautious about the idea of left-hander Justin Steele getting back to the big leagues this season, given that he has missed the vast majority of the last two campaigns while recovering from elbow surgery.
Right-hander Edward Cabrera has been dogged by blister issues this season and hasn’t been very effective when healthy.
Reliever Shelby Miller (Tommy John surgery) was signed with little expectation he would be available this season, though Counsell on Thursday described him and Cabrera as ‘‘the two guys who are closest.’’
Given how effective Brown was this season, he was arguably the most likely to make an impact. Now he’ll be part of the large number of question marks about the starting rotation in 2027 and beyond.
The stress fracture was discovered — two years after the fact — to be the injury that ended Brown’s season early in 2024, then misdiagnosed as an osteoma. Brown called that clarity a blessing and said he saw a clearer path forward in June than he did two years ago, when the Cubs spent so much time trying to figure out what was bothering him.
He also said he would put in long-term work on figuring out what changes he could make that might prevent this from happening in the future. Whether that’s possible remains to be seen.
‘‘When you’re talking about those kinds of mechanics, some of those things are innate or how your body moves or reacts to pitching,’’ team president Jed Hoyer said Tuesday. ‘‘I’m not saying he can’t do it, but it’s more challenging than retraining your arm path or something like that. It’s something physical that we have to figure out.’’
‘‘These guys throw hard because their body moves a certain way,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘You can’t invent another way to do that.’’
Meanwhile, Counsell & Co. are focused on the relievers they have at their disposal, several of whom are struggling right now.
The Cubs might have dodged a significant blow after closer Jacob Webb took a line drive off his right (throwing) arm, with Counsell saying the Cubs are hopeful he won’t have to go on the injured list.
But Webb and fellow high-leverage reliever Daniel Palencia keep giving up runs.
‘‘The bullpen is a ‘today’ question, so we’re worried about the guys we’ve got right now,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘Those [rehabbing] guys have jobs to do, and that’s to continue pitching.
‘‘They’re coming off injuries. I think they have to answer health questions still and recovery questions still. Those are different questions than the guys here.’’