John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times
MESA, Ariz. — Cubs pitching prospect Ben Brown was hoping the pain in his side last season would disappear on its own. But on his flight to Chicago to get it checked out, a sneeze made him realize it was more than a minor pull.
‘‘Not the flight to Chicago I was hoping for,’’ Brown said in a conversation with the Sun-Times.
Brown, 24, was on the cusp of a call-up before that oblique injury, which landed him on the injured list in early August.