Domonic Brown heats up
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Domonic Brown heats up
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
(Marc Narducci/Staff)
As the Phillies stumbled Tuesday to another listless defeat that dropped them under .500 again, something was happening 70 miles north. Domonic Brown smashed two home runs and a double, threw a runner out from left field, and made a diving catch.
And that was only in the first four innings of triple-A Lehigh Valley's rout of the Gwinnett Braves.
Brown's bat is heating up; he's hitting .415 (17 for 41) in his last 10 games with four home runs and 13 runs scored. The 24-year-old's batting average had dipped to .231, but this streak has bumped it to .282. Fifteen months ago, he broke his right hamate bone, an injury that typically saps power for about a year.
"For me, he's the same Domonic," IronPigs manager Ryne Sandberg told reporters Tuesday following the game.
Of course, the "same Domonic" is a maddening player yet to realize his potential. One scout who watched Brown for the previous four days would agree.
"There's not much to love about his defense, but he has definitely swung it pretty well," said the scout, who requested anonymity to speak about another team's player. "I am still not 100 percent sold on the bat, but he has looked solid. Other scouts will say he looked better two years ago."
A lot has happened since then. The Phillies summoned Brown in 2010 and he dazzled in his debut. A injury stole playing time. He was recalled midseason, again, in 2011 and was ultimately supplanted as the starting right fielder by Hunter Pence. The Phillies moved him to left, and recently center for a week, before back to left. He spent most of this spring on the bench with injuries.
The outfield -- and his health -- remains his barrier to reaching the majors.
"His defense is somewhat a mystery to me," the scout said. "He seems so gifted athletically but he just doesn't break on the ball well."
He added: "The diving catch was a product of a bad jump. But the two bombs were impressive."
And therein lies the tantalizing talent of Brown.
Have a question? Send it to Matt Gelb's Mailbag.
Comments (56)
The comments that Charlie ruined D Brown are absurd. It was the front office and scouting (and the media) that were in love with the guy. It was not Charlies fault that D-Brown could not run the bases in key situations, played minus defense, and at times seemed to lose focus. Sadly the hype, the expectations, incomplete scouting and development and Brown's agent (Boras) that hurt this kid. Sometimes you just have to execute...see Bryce Harper as a good example...or Galvis.— Special Agent Fox Mulder- Have they tried Brown at 1st base?— gmr18901
- How can you blame Charlie for messing up a guy who never proved he was great, but was simply presumed great? The pressure has messed him up. I think the Pierre problem is why you don't bring him up. You don't want to bench Pierre when he is one of the few consistent on-base guys the Phillies have. So where do you play Brown? Phillies pay Victorino and Pence too much to bench either of them long term. He needs to get his at-bats. Leave him until he can play every day, which is not today, that is, unless he can also play first base or third.— realzoe
- Charlie ruined the guy— Ssteve115
- Another Charlie moron managerial masterpiece— gates2012
Time for sh*t or get off the pot with this guy.— Sam Crow- Bring him up and play him where???? Pierre is hitting over 300, so if anyone is benched, it should be Victorino.— Tar Heel 1
- Bring up Brown now and he will look like JM Jr at the plate and J Pierre in the field. He isn't ready for the field and doesn't hit big league off-speed stuff, just like Mayberry. Mayberry is an asset in the field and on the bases. Brown is neither.— TomH1
- People aren't born knowing how to hit big league off-speed stuff and there is only one place to learn...or are you in favor of just letting the same old guys play until they can't and then just shut the whole franchise down? — jtj06
- bring him up, play him every day, accept that he is learning on the job and leave him alone...the impatience of most fans is absurd. if there was ever a year to roll the dice and inject the team with some young talent, it is this year— TheLon
- Saw Ruf last night. He doesn't look ready to me. He's been in a bit of a slump of late.
Do yourself a favor, visit Reading. There are some real prospects in the system. I especially like Hernandez at 2B, he had a couple nice line drive hits last night, nice quick bat. Gillies was heating up but he had an outfield collision and hasn't been playing. 3 of the baby aces as starters. g
A great park, probably one of the best experiences in minor league baseball (I have been to 4 Pigs games this year too, I prefer Reading, not that the Pigs experience isn't worthwhile.)
Reading is a much more exciting experience than Citizens Bank is these days, and a lot cheaper. And you won't see anyone in Reading who doesn't hustle.— wo_fat - Last ten games .308, 3 HRs, 9 RBI. Well, I guess that's a slump. Are we talking about the same guy??
— zubzub - I have just two words to descibe the Dominic Brown saga; Roger Freed.— mattbagley
- Leave Brown down. Bring Ruf up.— zubzub
- Wiggy, Thome, Nix and Pierre are the future. There is no room here for Brown.— wo_fat
- I'll be really pissed if the Phils bring up Brown again, only to let him languish in a part-time role. He needs ABs. He needs to re-develop the confidence that characterized his initial run of success in the minors. He doesn't need the big league club bringing him up, tinkering with his swing, and letting him sit on the bench. They've set him back 2 years with all of this nonsense.— Mike P
- Anyone suggesting a trade for Brown, arguably, the Phillies LAST vestigial remnant of a talented farm that Amaro traded away, is a fri,ggin moron! What could they possibly get for Brown, another Nix, WIggington.....are you kidding me? There is ZERO logic in a move like that. Brown is our only hope, he MUST be brought up considering the horrendous power vacuum that now exists within the basement dwelling, sub 500 Phils. This is a no brainer, BRING HIM UP! He cannot be any worse defensively then the inept Pierre or Pence.....however, he will provide far more power. BRING HIM UP MONTY AND GILES or will that ruin your devious plans?— daystrum
- I have no idea why this guy isn't playing for the Phillies right now. I mean...can he be any worse than Hunter Pence with RISP?? Either play him at the big league level or trade him for a bat...stop messing around!!— barkley3407
- I can't get over all of the people who keep saying they need to make a trade now. With the second wild card, no one is going to want to trade anybody the Phillies would need now. MLB and trades are like a kid and his homework, you always wait till the deadline to do anything.
Mark1 - I liked the Homer Simpson reference.— John Klink - @nyphilliefan.....they are not depressants. They are all stimulants. That's how ADD meds work. They are amphetamines. They speed up the areas of the brain that lag behind the other areas that are hyperctaive so there is then some balance to the brain functioning.— Mark1npt
- defense? please. the phils would put up with defense if he hit over .218— fishtown charlie
- I guess my previous post didn't make it through. About the Phillies NEED for Brown to play well in the Bigs, since they have no payroll flexibility and the players they have tied up are old, injured, and only getting worse. They should bring Dom up and insert him as DH for the AL stretch, but Manuel can NOT jerk him around like he does every other young guy. The Phillies went into 2012 counting on Mayberry, but after 8 games, the first time his average dropped below .250 when he broke a 4 game hitting streak with an 0-for-4 on April 14th, Mayberry was relegated to part-time play in favor of a motley collection of aging has beens. That's no way to develop the players that are needed if this team has a future.— jtj10
- Super post candidly. The Amaro/Manuel Phillies are HORRIBLE at developing new big leaguers. It's as if they go out of their way to kill these guys. Even before Amaro, look back at Chooch. They threw every possible road block in his path. Same thing with Kendrick and Bastardo. As I mentioned in my previous comment about Mayberry and as you clearly point out with Brown. Even Galvis is being set up to fail. He is clearly the SS of the future, but they put a 3 year, non-hustling road block in front of him and now have him playing out of position. What makes Amaro look so foolish is that when he sent Brown down this spring before even giving him a chance to get hot-- and by all accounts Brown worked hard in the offseason. Pence adopted his workout and look how his power improved--- Amaro said the Phillies were contenders and couldn't afford to develop players in the big leagues. Meanwhile, the Phillies are looking up at a bunch of teams with bright futures who know that it is essential to do just that. If Bryce Harper or Freddie Freeman were on the Phillies, Manuel would be jerking them around, playing head games and pulling them in and out of the line up if they didn't get hits every day. Then they'd be trying to change everything they do. You can't win if you don't have faith in your young talent and just let them play.— jtj10
- The Red Sox are playing guys like Scotty Pods, Marlon Byrd and Daniel Nava in the outfield. And Ellsbury's return keeps getting pushed back. They would jump at getting Victorino for the rest of this year.— eman
- Maybe Rubes can trade him for another retread.— wo_fat
- unfortunately he doesn't have much of a future with the Phils,....now, if he gets a new agent and a new attitude and learns to apply himself with a work ethic,...he'll take his spot in LF within the next 15 months— SyddBarrett
- I believe the Phillies management and coaching staff must bear some responsibilty for messing up Dominic Brown.
You may remember when they brought him up last year, he started out hitting pretty good. He was showing some flashes of why everybody was so excited about.
Then he put up a bunch of strikeouts.
Immediately, the coaches said his swing needed to be altered.
Around this time, he misplayed a few balls in the outfield making errants throws.
The coaching staff stepped up again and decided he needed to be taught the ' correct way ' to track down balls hit to the outfield and to use a certain throwing motion to hold runners.
All this was being fed to him within a few weeks of him being called up. He was supposed to be able to incorporate this in his game immediately while playing at the Major League level. Pretty heady stuff.
What we got was a robotic like athlete with no confidence. Not too surprising he regressed rather than improved.
One question for Phillies coaching staff..........
If Dominic Brown's hitting and fielding needed to be significantly altered after he got here, what does this say about the quality of the coaching he received in the minors ? Did nobody down there notice any flaws ?
Another person has said here that it is unlikely that much improvement can be made to players that lack instintive defensive ability. In Dominic Brown's case, the best that may be hoped for is that, because of his superior speed, he will learn to compensate for his misjudgements.
I AM GLAD THE KID IS DOING WELL. I HOPE THE ORGANIZATION DOES NOT GIVE UP ON HIM.
He certainly has the tools to be a success.— candidly - They do use stims - they work. Either the stim helps them focus - or - What's more likely is: The stim level gets their body to produce less of whatever makes them hyper -or - to produce a counteractive chemical - or - it sort of burns them out a bit which counters the usual spasiness. Sorry I don't have more / better info.— Warhound
- Might as well bring him up, he'll never have the complete game, but this team can no longer afford to let a bat rot in Allentown the way they're hitting at the big league level. If you bring him up and Utley and Howard are back in a few weeks , they will have an outside chance to contend. But I don't look at being 5 games out anymore as no big deal. Yeah, the team they had 4 years ago could have wiped out a deficit like that in a hurry, I'm not so sure this team does.— drbob1
- i'm pretty sure ADHD meds are depressants.... ADHD is attention deficit/hyperactive disorder, why would you give them stimulants?— nyphilliephan
- Take the lineup card away from Charlie. He is no La Russa. Stabilize the everyday lineup. Brownie in left and Mayberry at first everyday. Get rid of the old timers other than off the bench!— Dull
- Move Victorino for Carlos Quinten. Both players are in contract years, but Victorino (from Hawaii) may like the West Coast. Brown is still a hitter and will play everyday for Philly next year. By obtaining Quinten, Mayberry Jr. can go to Center with Pense/Quinten in the corners. With Utley/Howard on the horizon, that would make for quite a scary lineup if/when healthy. Quinten also gives Philly an option if they choose not to resign Pense. While Quinten's defense is average, his bat will liven up a DOA offense. Gotta like that look. Rollins/Polanco/Utley/Howard/Pense/Quinten/Ruiz/Mayberry Jr./Pitcher. Now tha would put some fear into a pitcher's mind....almost resembling the line up from yesteryear with Werth/Ibanez or Burrell. Some really needed pop from both sides. If need be, throw in a young reliever to entice the Padres (Schwimmer or DeFratus or Aumont). Win win for both teams I'd say.— drhoffman
- Time is up on Mayberry too. It is clear— phillyceltic
Comment removed.- Was a nice spark when he came up initially, lets see if it works again. How much worse can it be— phillyceltic
- It's almost impossible to teach defense at this level. You can improve a little, like an infield turning the DP, hitting the cut off man, throwing to the right base, better angles and running routes, but when you are a bad defensive player with not much instincts and baseball smart, there is not much you can improve. He's an American League player, IMO.— EL Zorro
- Brown and Vic for relief help? Wow, a GG and AS and a former #1 prospect. Phew. I think you can get more than relief help for those two.— EL Zorro
- So you want to bench Hunter Pentz who is a proven success and on pace for 100 rbi's for Dom Brown?— tommazza
- ps....as much as I'd hate seeing Brown's defense in LF, I grew up with Luzinski out there so what's the difference if Brown (man's up) and turns himself into an offensive force to be reckoned with like Luzinski did?— Mark1npt
- @FansVoice....it's called ADHD.....the first year of PEDs testing in MLB 1.8% of all MLB players were on some sort of ADHD meds (stimulants) and granted waivers by MLB home offices for their usage, otherwise these players would have tested positive for stimulants and been suspended 50 games. Just 2-3 years later the number of MLB players with ADHD skyrocketed to 10.1%....you do the math. Ridiculous, isn't it? Oh lokk, a butterfly!......This ADHD is a real epidemic! Maybe what we're seeing are players who've run out of their meds? I agree with you, the boneheadedness on the field is at an all time high right now. Too many distractions, I think and the ADHD players can't handle it.....actually, I think it's hard to pay attention during the game and concentrate on the situation t hand when you have one eye on your 3rd base coach, another eye on the scoreboard to see just where the ball you hit for the triple landed, while thinking about how you're going to twitter your followers after the game to tell them how sweet it felt, facebook your mom about how you miss her cooking and remember to call your agent because he needs to phone in the refill for your meds, pick them up and drop them by the ballpark on his way home........— Mark1npt
- shipping Vic and Brown for relief help is a terrible idea... moving Brown anywhere is probably a bad idea since you'd be selling so low. let him figure it out on his own in minors and then either promote him or trade him then. trading him for some random rental reliever is a very bad idea... if you get a similarly talented player in a "change of scenery" type swap, i'd be OK with it... we did that a few years back in the golson-for-mayberry trade and that worked out (tho neither of those 2 were mega prospects like DB)— leeal02
- shipping Vic and Brown for relief help is a terrible idea... moving Brown anywhere is probably a bad idea since you'd be selling so low. let him figure it out on his own in minors and then either promote him or trade him then. trading him for some random rental reliever is a very bad idea... if you get a similarly talented player in a "change of scenery" type swap, i'd be OK with it... we did that a few years back in the golson-for-mayberry trade and that worked out (tho neither of those 2 were mega prospects like DB)— leeal02
- ugh, just get mayberry out of the lineup already. he's outclassed and he knows it.— snakeplissken
- Ruben hasn't givenCharlie a good team other than starting pitching. I know there have been major injuries that couldn't have been predicted. I like Charlie but only think he is an average game day manager at best and not for this type of team. I'd say give them another 10-15 games, see how they are doing, see if Utley and Howard have a prayer of contributing and if they're not going in the right direction, replace Charlie with Sandberg and unload Victorino. It may not help but it couldn't be much worse and maybe it would shake up the troops. Unfortunately they'll still be stuck with Rollins but maybe Sandberg won't feel co pulled to lead him off. Who knows. They're lacking so many parts I don't know the answer.— Ballgame
- Triple A is where the old vets go to die and the young "prospects with potential" toil for years and years. They obviously threw fastballs, cause when they bring brown up he gets a steady diet of offspeed pitches that he can not handle. That plus he is a liability in the field means no ticket to the bigs....MARK THAT— Trot
- Think outside the box and bring up Ruf in AA who is killing it down there and has ever since he arrived late on the scene at 22. He is 25 which is old for AA but he started late. Big power and hits all over the field.44 rbi's already and an ops of 958 and obp of almost 400. He has 41 rbi's.Leave Rhome in Fla and let him play 1st base in the inter league series or dh. Tired od the same old same old. Lets be proactive and try a kid who is kickin in AA — pattymac3
- Can he be much worse defensively than Pierre in LF?— Clt Philly Fan
- recall him and put him in the OF. Can't be any worse than mayberry or pence in clutch situations.— palmyra21
- recall him and put him in the OF. Can't be any worse than mayberry or pence in clutch situations.— palmyra21
- Comment removed.
This team needs a shakeup now. I brought up the Brown/Victorino trade package because I believe that the best way to shakeup this team and send a message that status quo is no longer acceptable is to trade a cornerstone of the club for the last 5/6 years. Victorino has played badly this year when they have needed him to step up and is in a contract year. Shipping him out now gets the Phillies a player who may be able to help them. 28-29 with a lethargic offense is no longer acceptable. Something drastic needs to be done soon.— Roy_Halladay- Sounds like he needs some coaching for defense.— P Even
- They have tried to coach him the last few years. He doesn't listen. The greatest coach ever couldn't teach Brown how to judge a fly ball. Either you can field or you can't. There is only so much a coach can do. — Roy_Halladay
- Stay tuned. Baseball people loved this guy 2 years ago. Why would he become a 240 hitter after he hit 340 in Lehigh 2 years ago at 22 (30 games). Just a guess his confidence was down after Philly stay. From what I am reading he has the athletic ability to be a decent fielder. He has an outstanding arm and good speed. No way Phillies are going to give up on Brown. He will have to learn how to read fly balls. Im hoping he will be in LF next year for Phills. They can certainly use a good bat.— Don w
- This is the time to trade Domonic Brown while they still have time to get more than a bag of baseballs. Ship him and the Sinking Hawaiian in a package to get some relief help. With this putrid offense, they need all the bullpen help they can get. The lack of development by Brown has hurt this team. He must pay with a one-way ticket out of town.— Roy_Halladay
- Call me crazy but I know he'll never be an expert and breaking on the ball correctly but can't you keep drilling with him to give him a better idea?
What's really troubling is more players these days seem to be a little spacey while playing. look at Castro for the cubs or Brown having his moments on defense or Victorino on the bases. What's with these mental lapses and nonchalant attitudes? Not that they don't care but they have these moments where their minds take a moment off.— TheFansVoice
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