Brown fourth on Baseball America's prospect list
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Brown fourth on Baseball America's prospect list
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Domonic Brown was ranked fourth in Baseball America's top 100 prospects. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Baseball America released its latest version of its Top 100 prospects and the Phillies' Domonic Brown ranked fourth on the list.
Given that Brown could end up being the Phillies' opening-day right fielder, this could be his final time on any prospect list.
Baseball America had ranked Brown as its top prospect last summer, but that title now belongs to Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals' 18-year-old catcher who was the first overall pick in last year's draft.
Mike Trout, an outfielder out of Millville High School in South Jersey, is ranked second behind Harper. Trout, 19, is in the Los Angeles Angels' farm system.
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Buy Phillies tickets Comments (31)
So, uh, who's third?— nosupportgroup- Also Harper is an outfielder now. Just wanted to correct that for all the kids out there.— guyguy4
Phillies Top 10:
1. Domonic Brown, of
2. Jonathan Singleton, 1b/of
3. Brody Colvin, rhp
4. Jarred Cosart, rhp
5. Trevor May, rhp
6. Sebastian Valle, c
7. Jiwan James, of
8. Jesse Biddle, lhp
9. Domingo Santana, of
10. Aaron Altherr, of
— bird11-
- BTW - Brown, Singleton (39) Colvin (56) & Cosart (70) are all in the Top 100 - not bad after all the young talent the Phillies gave up in Lee & Halladay trades.— bird11
- Montero is 3rd.— duck2
- Prospect/schmospect; who the eff cares. Due to letting Werth go AND having 3b clogged up by a weak-hitting defensive player, we have seriously lop-sidded line-up wiht NO rh power. Will someone please tell me how this team plans to drive in runs from the right side of the plate? Once they signed Lee, the die was cast, they should've moved Ibanez and Blanton to be sure they'd have the money to keep Werth. As it is they'll still lose Ibanez after this year and will then need 2 corner outfieders if Brown doesn't develop quick enough. And, they'll need someone with offensive pop to play 3rd. We have great starting pitching, but we are slowing turning into a limited offensive team.— SaganRand
- Not sure I'd label a career .303 hitter as 'clogging up 3b' but anyhow, Polanco, Victorino, Rollins, Ruiz and Francisco are all fairly capable hitters from the right side... And frankly, I'd rather have any of those guys at the plate in a clutch situation than Werth, who last year hit a MAJOR LEAGUE-WORST .186 WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION!! If your answer is to pay a guy like that $126 million and get rid of other key players to do so, then let's just say I'm glad you're not the one running this team
- I do not see how getting rid of Ibanez (who had a decent year) and Blanton equals keeping Werth. In order to deal either of those players, the Phillies would have to have eaten a significant portion of their salary. Furthermore, they were not about to commit 126 million dollars to a player with a short track record of success.— Armyofthe15Monkies
- sitkolabaloni: Look, Werth's gone, that's fine I get that. My point is that we will absolutely need more punch from the right side. I know Werth's RISP numbers so yes perhaps he's not 'prefect', but our switch-hitters are NOT the answer nor will they provide enough power to make up for the loss of Werth. M. Young from TX would've been a far better fit for our needs than Polanco. As far as Polanco's 'career' .303, uh big deal. 3b has historically been one of the places where a team can count on some power numbers. Look at the 162 game averages since 2004 of Polanco vs M Young for a better demonstration; HR/RBI = Young 19/94 Polanco 9/62. Clogging up 3b? Yes...if you understand some of the nuances of baseball, YES with Werth gone and an unproven Brown in RF..YES Polanco is now essentially cloggin up 3b. What on earth do you thing Rube was doing 'kicking the tires' regarding M. Young?— SaganRand
- And to the other poster, I realize that moving Ibanez and Blanton would not have equated to a longer term deal for Werth. So, fine then, let Werth go but then you have to find a way to get some rh pop. I will restate, again, that Rube was operating under that exact mind-set when he looked at Young from TX. He knows that with Brown in rf, and Werth gone, he is limited as to where he can get some rh power and Polanco is not going to provide that. Any trade to get Young most-like would've included Polanco, and also probably Blanton. It would've given TX a pitcher that would eat some innnings and an infielder to replace Brown. As it is, if we come north with the current roster, mark my words we'll be looking for a rh power bat by the trade deadline....that's all I'm sayin— SaganRand
- type, sorry, if to replace Young for TX (eg including Planco in trade with TX...)— SaganRand
- Bird - Thanks for the list. Man there just aren't any infielders on the Phillies list of prospects.— stanbro
- Since when is 19 homers and 94 RBIs power numbers?? Over a full season that's one extra home run every 16 games. Big deal. They just need guys who can hit from the right side, period. Pedro Feliz drove in 50 something runs at 3b the year the won the World Series, I don't think he was the key to that season
- LOL. When are 19/94 power numbers? When the alternative is 9/62 that's when. Here's your assignment child; go rank the 162 game RBI averages of all MLB 3b's and let me know where Polanco ranks. And, the reason that Feliz's low rbi total as a rh 3b was not as glaring was that we still had Burrell and we also had Werth playing. You do know that we still had Burrell and Werth in 08' don't you? We had them to go along with Howard and Utley and we had the 2 switch hitters. That's called balance. We are now completely out of balance and will need a RH bat that can drive in more than 50 or 60 runs. That's just a fact of baseball. Deny it all you want, but Rube was accutely aware of exactly this problem when he spoke to TX about Young...There's no doubt he would've be installed as our 3b. FACT. We will be loooking for a rh bat to drive runs in.— SaganRand
The fact the Phils have a pwer hitting 2B negates the the need for a power hitting 3rd baseman. Try again with your "nuances" of baseball....- Why the focus on right handed hitting RBIs? Runs count the same from the left or right side. We all get that having another right handed hitter in lineup would balance out the lineup better, but to imply that Polanco is an offensive liability because he hits for average instead of power is to miunderstand this team's offsensive issues. You heard it from Schmidt today - they need to play more small ball and strike out less. Having Michael Young on any team would be great, but they do not have a position for him. This team is not perfectly constructed, but it's still the best team the Phillies have ever fielded. I don't know how you can even seriously argue with that.— Phils Phan 28
Dom is right where he should be......- This is the dumbest argument I've had in a while. Your whole premise that 1) your third basemen needs to produce power numbers and 2) the Phillies are unbalanced, is flawed at every level... Yes, typically third basemen are run producers. Is this a necessity to win a World Series? Depends what other run producers are in your lineup, and definitely not according to 2 of the last WS champs. The fact that the Phillies have a power-hitting second baseman that maybe 2 other teams can match, and the fact that they have baseball's home run and RBI king over the last several years, diminishes the need for the 3b to carry the team in the power dept. I already mentioned Feliz, look at a more recent case. Did the Giants have any problem winning a WS with their third baseman logging 13 homers and 50 or so RBI? No, because they had other strengths... 2) You say the Phillies are completely out of balance. Compared to last year, maybe somewhat. But the fact is, on any given day, they can send out a starting lineup with 5 or 6 righties. If that's not balance, I don't know what is. The bottom line is you're trying to call the team's most consistent hitter last year a liability simply because he's not a power hitter. Put a guy on 2nd base and I'll take Polanco at the plate 10 times out of 10
- Look, there's no point in going back and forth on this. I would love nothing more than for us to lead the league in runs and win it all again. If they are tearing up the league with the current line up I'll be the first one dancing in the streets. However, my opinion is that we'll see the Phils seeking a rh bat that drives in runs, your opinion is that they wont necessarily need to worry about that. Honestly, I hope your right. Let's see it play out. Go Phils !!!— SaganRand
- I am glad that Dom Brown is high on the prospects list, and am anxious to see him play when the Phils play in games soon. The Phils have put a lot of pressure on him, though, so he may not have the same learning curve as some other guys. While Amaro deserves a ton of credit(along with Gillick) for putting together this starting pitching and getting Lee back, Amaro has not proven he can acquire RH pop. Keep in mind that the Phils had already been familiar with Polanco before because of the Rolen trade(which Wade made). However, they have had great difficulty getting RH bats otherwise. Expecting a bunch of guys to fall from the sky by the trade deadline doesn't work; Amaro needs to address this sooner rather than later, for his and Brown's sake.— 76erfn
- SaganRand go outside and get some fresh air.— baseline bill
- SaganRand - I think the Phillies want to give first chance to produce from the right side to Francisco. Now a Francisco/Brown platoon in RF might not make you jump for joy right now but I'm will to bet going into '08 you weren't overjoyed with Jenkins/Werth either. Francisco in '09 playing semi-regularly for the Indians before the trade had 10 HRs in 308 ABs. Very similiar to Werth's numbers in '07 playing semi-regularly forthe Phillies (8HRs in 304 ABs).— bird11
- bird11- Excellent point. Good parrallel to the Werth/Jenkins platoon. Stikaboli and Saganrand both make worthwhile arguments backed up by facts. I can envision scenarios where either play out. Maybe its the optimist in me, but I tend to think that the whole (no pwer from the right" thing is a bit overblown because there are very few other things to complain about.— Zee77
- Zee77 - I'm also being an optimist and SaganRand may be right that we need to do something in July to solidify the rightside for the stretch run and playoffs. The Phillies have proven the last few years that they will make moves if needed and I trust their player evaluations - something I never thought I would say 7-8 years ago.
I also think the right side complaints are because of the way the LHers in the Giants 'pen shut us down in the NLCS. My opinion is if somebody shuts down Utley, Howard, and Ibanez like that again the only RH bat that could help us is Mays.
— bird11 - Michael Young would be an overpaid downgrade from Polanco. Similar lifetime BA (Polanco .003 better), Young hits for a little more power but not alot more (never hit 25 homers in a season) but that is not what is needed - they need someone to get on base to set up the true sluggers. They both have identical lifetime OBP's at .347 so for all purposes, on this team, they are almost even offensively. However it would be a huge downgrade defensively by any metric (UZR, fielding %, etc) more than offsetting any small offensive upgrade and he costs more than twice as much. Why do you think they got Beltre? Do you remember his error in Game 1 of the WS that changed the course and the momentum of the game (and possibly the series), letting the Giants rally to tie the game at two against Lee in what most were describing as a must win start with their ace on the mound if the Rangers were to win.— Twocents
- I'm not saying Beltre is a shining beacon of defense either but his offense is on another level when compared to Young so it isn't as glaring.— Twocents
- Sagan- Young's power would be great to have, but with our pitching staff, having Polanco's ability to hit for a high average and drive runners in will play to our pitching staff's advantage, as we won't need many runs to win games.— phigglesfan75
- So, back to the question: How will Dom Brown fare this year? I would guess he'll be up and down, showing real skils at times and struggling at other times. He'll make some gaffes in the outfield, too. I remember when an obscure prospect named Mike Schmidt came up, he hit like .196 his first partial season. But he hit some real bombs and, while inconsistent at third, showed a strong arm and made some great plays, too. I'm not saying Dom Brown will be an HOF-er but I truly predict in 3 years, and certainly in 5, he will be a very good Major Leaguer and probably a candidate for the All-Star team. You just don't do what he's done without real talent. A Francisco-Brown situation where Brown platoons and Francisco plays some left field, and maybe some center, seems like the right approach.— eman
- Just another reason why MLB is so flawed: DH.
No other professional sport has different positions between it's two conferences like baseball.
It's sickening to imagine the Phillies line up this season, and the last 5 if they had DH full time.— rickah88 - Polanco is a "weak hitting defensive player??" ARE YOU AN IDIOT?? Seriously, why do people like you write on these message boards? If that's how you view Polly you obviously don't follow baseball all that much & certainly don't pay ANY attention to the Phillies. Do us all a favor sitkolaboni (BRILLIANT NAME GENIUS) & go follow a team who's fans' intelect matches your own: THE METS.— thomaspfoolery
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The Phillies Zone is the place for up-to-the-minute Phillies coverage from the Inquirer.
Matt Gelb
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Bob Brookover
Inquirer Baseball Columnist
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