Ben Brown Named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year

JERSEY SHORE, NJ - Ben Brown was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year, it was announced on Wednesday by Major League Baseball.

Brown was the BlueClaws Opening Night starter each of the last two seasons. This year, he made 16 appearances, pitching to a 3.05 ERA over 73 innings with 105 strikeouts and just 23 walks. He was promoted to Double-A Reading but was then traded to the Cubs for P David Robertson on August 2nd before his Fightin' Phils debut.

In his final four BlueClaws starts, Brown gave up just four earned runs over 23 innings while striking out 35. He had four double-digit strikeout games on the season, including fanning 13 Aberdeen IronBirds in a win July 17th in Maryland.

The Phillies drafted Brown in the 33rd round of the 2017 MLB Draft out of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York. He pitched for the BlueClaws in 2019 in Low-A and then 2021 and 2022 in High-A. He was the Opening Night starter in both 2021 and 2022, and was the first BlueClaw to throw a pitch for the "Jersey Shore BlueClaws."

The BlueClaws had two players, OF Jhailyn Ortiz and RHP Blake Brown, on the league's Post-Season All-Star Team in 2021.

-Jersey Shore BlueClaws-