We're now into May, and the baseball season begins to take shape. Spring training and April are full of uncertainty. May is when we learn what teams and players are truly made of.
Here are three trends worth watching as the season progresses.
Ben Brown's Breakout Season
Despite sitting in first place in the NL Central, the Cubs are pushing the limits of their rotation depth. Cade Horton is done for the season, and Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele will be sidelined several more weeks. The Cubs are already monitoring the trade market for rotation help.
Following Boyd's injury, the Cubs opted to move late-inning reliever Ben Brown into the rotation over Javier Assad. Brown had emerged as a trusted high-leverage reliever for manager Craig Counsell, and the Cubs wanted to give him another chance at a starting job.
Brown has never lacked stuff. His upper-80s curveball is a hammer that lights up analytical models. He's sat mid-90s and shown a few upper-90s with his four-seam fastball. This year, Brown added a sinker specifically to jam up righties and get quick outs.
He connected with Mets starter and sinker specialist Clay Holmes over the winter near their Nashville homes and picked his brain.
"It's almost unbelievable, just the amount of people who told me to train with this guy who I had never met in my life. He's really kind and gracious with his time. He was helping me out so much. Mentally, physically. Probably even more on the mental side."
Brown is now a sinker/curveball pitcher against righties and a four-seamer/curveball pitcher against lefties. He's improved significantly against lefties thanks to better fastball location, but the sinker is a new wrinkle for righties.
There is something to be said for learning how to get outs in the bullpen and using that experience when you move back into the rotation. Brown may be following a similar path to pitchers like Holmes and Michael King, who had success in the bullpen before transitioning back to starting roles.
Luis Arraez's Improved Defense
Luis Arraez is a special hitter with a preternatural gift for making contact. One thing he has never been, at least until 2026, was a good defensive player. From 2019-25, he ranked near the bottom of the league with minus-69.5 runs of fielding value per FanGraphs.
That's why it was curious when the Giants signed Arraez to play second base. In spring training, POBO Buster Posey told NBC Sports Bay Area that they felt comfortable there was a solid foundation for a guy that could play second base well, and they were really optimistic about Arraez working with the team to improve defensively.