Waiting for call from Phillies, Domonic Brown works to improve

ALLENTOWN - Boxes crowd Domonic Brown's locker, but the Phillies' top prospect has no plans of packing up for Philadelphia.

Given the organization's day-old shakeup - firing hitting coach Milt Thompson and replacing him with Lehigh Valley's Greg Gross, recalling pitchers Kyle Kendrick and J.A. Happ from Triple A - Brown can't ignore the happenings of the parent club.

Especially with the trade deadline a week away. Especially given the team's recent tolerance to change in hopes of sparking a second-half surge.

"I know what's going on, but other than that I really don't get into things like that," Brown said. "I'm just here working, just working on where I'm at right now, just trying to improve daily and get better and take it day-by-day. That's all I can do right now."

Brown, batting a team-high .330 in 23 games with the IronPigs entering last night's game against the Norfolk Tides, knows the moment he starts stressing about when he will join the Phillies is the moment production will slide.

That's why he avoids the hot-button question:

Is he ready?

"I'll leave that up to [general manager] Ruben [Amaro Jr.] and all those guys," Brown said. "I'm putting up pretty good numbers here.

"I actually thought I was gonna be in Double A all year, so I kinda used this as a bonus, me moving up to Triple A. So, if I don't get called up, it's not a big deal. I go into spring training and work my butt off."

If Brown gets called up, he will be able to reunite with Gross. His teammates couldn't talk long about Gross without mention of his style.

"GG knows what he's talking about," first baseman Andy Tracy said. "He's not gonna force things down your throat. He's gonna be there every day for you. He'll help you if you want it, and if not, he knows not to step on too many toes."

"I wasn't with Milt long enough. From the experience I had, Greg's a little more hands-on," said catcher Dane Sardinha, who hit .205 in 13 games this season with the Phillies. "He's a little more available in the sense of being in the cages and stuff. They've got different mind-sets about hitting, so we'll see. This might work out for the guys up there."

"He's gonna go up there and have fun and hopefully give those guys an extra boost and a sparkplug," Brown said.

Phillies fans could say the same about Brown. *