McCade Brown Flashed High-Upside Stuff in Career-Best Outing for Rockies

The Colorado Rockies finally got to see the high upside that McCade Brown possesses.

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The Colorado Rockies don't have anything to play for when it comes to actual results for the remainder of the year. They have already avoided setting the MLB record for most losses of all time and they are locked into the worst record ever by a National League team.

But that doesn't mean the players aren't going out there with the goal of proving they belong at this level, using the final stretch of games in the 2025 season to demonstrate they should be part of the big league squad heading into 2026.

The Rockies need to figure out their pitching situation. They have been a disaster on the mound all year long, and entering next season, they have to find more consistent options to trot out there in their starting rotation.

Someone who has gotten an opportunity to make a name for himself is McCade Brown, the 25-year-old third-round pick of the 2021 draft who was surprisingly called up to The Show all the way from Double-A back on Aug. 24.

McCade Brown Has Best MLB Performance of His Career

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It's largely been a struggle for Brown. Entering his outing against the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday, the righty had a 9.17 ERA across his five starts where he had given up three or more runs in four of those outings. His worst came against the San Diego Padres on Sept. 6 when he was tagged for six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Because of that, not much was expected out of Brown when he took the mound against the Mariners. However, he turned in the best performance of his career, going five innings where he gave up just one run on two hits and struck out an eye-popping 10 batters with just two walks issued.

This dude is dealing

5 IP | 10 K pic.twitter.com/zIeZzcpxGW

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 24, 2025

That is a huge positive for Colorado and Brown going forward. The team threw him right into the fire when they called him up to the bigs without him pitching an inning at the Triple-A level. But he has responded to that by keeping his head down and working.

All of a sudden, that performance has given a lot of confidence for what Brown could potentially provide going forward. He has not been a high-strikeout guy thus far in his short MLB tenure with just 11 K's in 17 2/3 innings pitched before Tuesday's outing. But he has rung up 267 batters across 198 innings in the minors, so there is that potential in him.

The aggressive promotion of Brown seemed to suggest the Rockies viewed him as someone who could be part of their Opening Day rotation in 2026 since they wanted to see how he might close out the year. While there has been some major struggles for the youngster during his first taste of major league action, this outing shows the high upside he possesses.

Brown is scheduled to get one more start to close out this campaign against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 28 in what will be the season finale. With another good showing in that one, he'll have made a case for being an option to begin next year in Colorado's starting rotation.

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