Phillies Notes: Domonic Brown could stay in triple A for more at-bats

ST. LOUIS - Tuesday marks the end of Domonic Brown's 20-day rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues. The rightfielder could play his final game with triple-A Lehigh Valley on Tuesday night and then catch a flight to St. Louis and rejoin the Phillies.

But that is not a certainty given Brown's struggles at the plate. The Phillies have flexibility because Brown can still be optioned to and from the minor leagues. Upon his activation from the 15-day disabled list, he may remain with the triple-A club for more at-bats.

As of Monday afternoon, club officials had yet to make a decision regarding Brown, working his way back from left Achilles tendinitis since spring training.

"We haven't had official conversations about him," manager Ryne Sandberg said. "From what I've seen, I don't know that he's ready for major-league pitching or to come up and really give us some punch with the way that things have gone for him there."

Brown, 27, has just five hits in 36 at-bats over his first nine games there. He has doubled once, driven in three runs, struck out six times and worked four walks. Before joining the IronPigs, he was 5 for 17 in six games with single-A Clearwater.

"Maybe it's just not enough at-bats," Sandberg said. "He's had some fly-ball outs. He just hasn't connected and hasn't hit for average [at the rate] you'd like to see."

Brown seemed to be under the impression he would be at Busch Stadium come Wednesday night. At least that's what he told reporters in Allentown after Sunday's IronPigs game.

That statement, according to Sandberg, was premature. "Unless he's player-slash-GM," the manager said with a laugh.

Before taking the field Monday for the pregame stretch, the Phillies formed a circle near the third-base line and welcomed their newest addition, righthander Severino Gonzalez, who will make his major-league debut Tuesday night against the Cardinals.

Gonzalez, 22, will be the youngest player on the Phillies' active roster once the move is made official. Sandberg came away impressed from a Grapefruit League start Gonzalez made in spring training. In an effort to preserve their bullpen, the Phillies opted to bring him up from Lehigh Valley rather than start reliever Dustin McGowan again.

"I was real impressed with his tone of the game," Sandberg said of Gonzalez. "He got the ball and threw it. [He] set a good tone for the defense behind him and he also threw strikes. [He] features a moving fastball. That's going to be important for him, to get ground balls with his fastball.

"I think the first thing will be for him to just relax and settle in and establish the strike zone. I think that's always key to any pitcher that will be in his shoes."

The Phillies made roster moves to accommodate the addition of Gonzalez. They optioned righthander Hector Neris back to triple A and transferred righthander Jonathan Pettibone (shoulder) from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day DL. - Jake Kaplan