Chicago Cubs Lineup (6/17/25): Happ Leads Off, PCA Bats Cleanup, Brown Starting
The Cubs open their second stretch of 13 straight games this month by hosting the Brewers for three games. After the Mariners come to town, the Cubs head to St. Louis for their first four games of the season against the Cardinals. That means these next 10 games are huge for the divisional power struggle. As clear as it’s been that the Cubs are the best team in the NL Central, there could be a big swing one way or the other in the next week and a half.
If they want to get that started on a strong note, Ben Brown desperately needs to find some consistency. The big righty has been either very bad or very good over the last month, allowing 20 earned runs in four starts and two in the other two starts. The bad has clearly outweighed the good on the whole, but he’s got the stuff to flip that script. Another outing like his last against Milwaukee in which he blanked them over six innings would be nice.
That start was when he debuted the new kick-change he’s been throwing with a bit more frequency, and I’d like to see that trend continue tonight. Given the offensive constipation over the last two weeks or so, Brown — no pun intended — may not have any room for error.
Ian Happ is leading off in left, followed by Kyle Tucker in right and Seiya Suzuki at DH. Pete Crow-Armstrong is the DH, Dansby Swanson is the shortstop, and Michael Busch mans first. Catcher Carson Kelly slides to seventh as his regression at the plate continues, then it’s Nico Hoerner at second and Matt Shaw at third.
They’re facing Chad Patrick, who sounds like two douchey bros in a teen rom-com. Apologies to all my Chads and Patricks out there, but you know your names have been used for the guy whose girl eventually leaves him for the new kid he picked on mercilessly. There doesn’t appear to be any small-dick energy with tonight’s starter, as the rookie has a 3.25 ERA with solid peripherals through his first 15 appearances (14 starts).
He missed the Cubs the last time around, so we don’t have any direct scouting on him yet. What we do know is that he leads with the cutter, throwing it over 44% of the time with excellent results. Statcast classifies it as a fastball even though it’s most definitely not one, coming in at 87-88 mph as opposed to his 94 mph four-seam. He does get a little more ride/less depth on the cutter than most, which may be why it’s so effective.
Patrick’s fastball is just okay and his 93-94 mph sinker is really good, in part because it also gets a little more ride than most. His slider and change are pedestrian at best with nothing outstanding about their shapes or results. What I find most interesting about Patrick is that he may get less depth than any other pitcher in MLB, or at least any I’ve profiled so far.
None of his pitches fall below the horizontal line on Baseball Savant’s movement profile graph, which makes sense based on his repertoire and three-quarter slot. That explains why most of his metrics fall in the blue zone, meaning he doesn’t get a ton of strikeouts, grounders, or soft contact. He does stay away from barrels to a good degree, and his .301 BABIP against suggests he’s not gotten particularly lucky.
Still, there’s a sense that his results have perhaps been a little better than they should be. Until his last start against Atlanta, he hadn’t given up more than three runs in any of his first 14 appearances. And even that happened just twice, with three scoreless outings, three one-run efforts, and five two-run games. Of course, one of those came in a single inning of relief when he debuted in late March.
Patrick has pitched to mild reverse splits and has been much better at home, with lefties crushing him on the road. Sounds like a good mix for the Cubs tonight, so maybe they can get off the schneid and start inflating that ERA a bit. First pitch is at 7:05pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Back at the Friendly Confines tonight!
Watch the game live on the Marquee Sports Network App. pic.twitter.com/3wWS43BoqV
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 17, 2025
