MLB.com's Carrie Muskat profiles the Cubs' 2002 1st round draft pick Bobby Brownlie, after Brownlie was sent to minor league camp yesterday. Brownlie is already 25 and shows no signs of cracking the big league roster anytime soon.

Brownlie had shoulder problems in college, but he was talented and the Cubs considered him healthy enough to take as their first pick in 2002. In his 2003 debut with high-A Daytona, Brownlie allowed just 1 run in 5 innings. Two months later, Brownlie came within a strike of throwing a 7-inning no-hitter. A couple of weeks later, though, the Cubs shut him down for the season with shoulder pain. He had reportedly lost velocity on his fastball. A similar report surfaced the next year as well.

2004 was, however, a successful season for Brownlie, as he posted a 3.36 ERA in 147.1 innings, with 114 K's and just 36 BB's at double-A West Tenn. He was not able to translate that success to triple-A Iowa last year. At Iowa, he ended up splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen, posting a combined 4.74 ERA in 104.1 innings. Brian C saw Brownlie pitch a game last year, where he was topping out at 90 mph and seemed to have a flat curve.

The move to the bullpen last year had some good effect on Brownlie. As Carrie Muskat notes, Brownlie had "a 1.50 ERA in 13 relief appearances." Muskat's article contains a quote from Brownlie on his off-season workout regimen where Brownlie indicates he was working on building up his endurance "to get into the seventh, eighth innings." So Brownlie is still hoping to be a starting pitcher. He may start the year in the rotation at Iowa, but if he struggles for very long like he did last year, look for the Cubs to send him right back to the bullpen.