Dominic Brown Just Can't Seem to Find Success in the Majors
By: Mike Reisman
With all the scrutiny of the Phillies this year, it seems like no Phillie has been able to do anything without the local media and fan base realizing. However, one player that has been going seemingly unnoticed, at least relatively, has been Domonic Brown. Though he definitely hasn't been praised, he hasn't been contributing nearly as much as expected, or even as much as his minor league rehab stats seemed to show.
Brown was basically given the starting job in right field, although Charlie Manuel didn't say it, after Jayson Werth left the team to go to Washington in the off-season. Though he didn't have a confidence instilling 2010 season, batting just .210 in 62 at-bats, many were still very optimistic about his future with the club, and Baseball America even ranked him as the number four prospect before the 2011 season.
However, even expectations couldn't save Brown from doing poorly early. It took the prospect six games and 16 at-bats to finally get his first hit of spring training, and later that game he broke his hand, sidelining him until the end of April.
When Brown returned from his injury to go on a rehab trip, he performed well, batting .350 in 16 games with the Clearwater Threshers (A+) and the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (AAA). It seemed that Brown may finally be back on the fast-track to success in the majors.
Unfortunately for Brown, things didn't go exactly as planned and Brown started off 1-14 at the plate. However, he would bounce back, seemingly adjusting to Major League pitching by going on a six game hitting streak and improving his average to .333 and looking as though he may have the potential that others clearly believed he had.
But then reality stuck again, and now, Brown is back to where he started, batting a mere .235 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Brown has been one of, if not the most disappointing of the Phillies players this year. This was supposed to be Brown's big year, the time he was supposed to break out of his shell and replace Jayson Werth, but unfortunately, he has only exposed the Phillies lack of hitting in their outfield, and now rumors have even began to surface about the Phillies interest in a right handed hitting outfielder.
With Brown's struggles, the Phillies may want to seriously consider using him as trade bait. I know that this idea may not go over well with the fans or the front office, in fact I'm not in favor of it either, however, it's something that the Phillies need to consider with his struggles. He seems to be almost like Kevin Kolb: everyone believes in him and his potential, yet he never seems to get the job done.
The alternative to trading Brown, the option I'm in favor of, would be to keep him in the starting lineup as a regular and simply deal with his poor play until he gets a true feel for the pitching in the majors, and is able to hit his stride. At this point it seems obvious that sending him down to triple-A would be pointless, as he always seems to put up MVP-like numbers with the Iron Pigs that don't translate to his big league play. Plain and simply: Domonic Brown is still going through the developmental stage in his career, and right now the only cure for these growing pains is time.