Brown Still In Phillies Plans

When the win now Philadelphia Phillies traded for Hunter Pence one had to wonder if the Phillies were moving on from Domonic Brown. Yes, they were able to make the deal without including him but still, they played the same position. He was even sent back to the minor leagues to keep getting consistent at-bats, maybe even to try and rebuild trade value. BUT never fear Domonic Brown fans, according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies still have plans for their top hitting prospect.

Brown was recalled Friday from triple-A Lehigh Valley, and could still qualify for the Phillies’ postseason roster. But the team is more concerned with Brown learning left field and beginning 2012 with a clean slate. That will be his focus for two weeks at instructional league in Clearwater, Fla.

When that ends Oct. 15, Brown’s season will be over. He will not play winter ball. (Philadelphia Inquirer / Philly.com)

So the plan is what a lot of Phillies fans desired and that’s Brown staying with the team but taking over in left field. That’s of course if he can adjust to a new position and learn how to hit again.

I have no doubts he can learn left field, many big league players have spent time at all three outfield positions. All he has to do is figure out how the ball comes off the bat and he’ll be set. To be a valuable big league player he’s going to need to regain that hitting ability.

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Ever since Browns performance in the Dominican League in 2010 I’ve wondered if he was going to be a bust. He hit a woeful .069 against sub-par pitchers and I truly wondered if his confidence would ever rebound. From the look of his performance in 2011, I continue to wonder.

So far in 2011, with the Phillies Brown has hit .246 with 5 homers and 19 rbi over 183 at-bats. He’s had 45 hits with 16 of them being for extra bases.

At Triple A- Lehigh his performance wasn’t much better. He hit .261 with three homers and 15 rbi over 138 at-bats. He had 36 hits only nine of those for extra bases.

Neither stop has had production worthy of a teams’ top prospect, let alone top positional prospect. The numbers look even worse when you consider Brown hit three of his major league homers of a four game span in June. He’s shown flashes of what made him a top prospect but hasn’t shown the consistency a player needs.

Although there is reason to believe he can turn it around.

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Brown’s been an on base machine over the years, even this year. During his stop in Philadelphia he walked 25 times boosting that .246 average to a .335 on base percentage. At Triple A he walked 28 times boosting his .261 average to a .391 on base percentage. What that shows is that he still sees the ball very well just isn’t making contact with the ball.

Hopefully the Phillies plan of taking the winter off will be what the doctor ordered. Some time away from the game to clear is head could do wonders for the psyche of the 24-year old. In all honesty, it’s probably the best thing the Phillies could do for him.

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Tags: Domonic Brown, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies