This screen grab was taken from the MLB Network, which did a segment this morning on Domonic Brown's new stance– ya know, the one with lowered hands. Most of his teammates were watching:
Awkward indeed.
The only real question mark for the Phillies going into the season is their right field situation. You knew that. Dom Brown has lowered his hands in his stance, in order to get to the ball more quickly. You knew that. Dom Brown is expected to partially fill Jayson Werth's shoes in right field. You knew that.
Here's what you may not know.
Since being called up last July, Dom Brown is 15-for-106 in game action, which includes the regular season (13-for-62), the playoffs (0-for-3), winter ball (2-for-29), and spring training (0-for-12). In that time span, he has struck out 40 times. That leaves him with a .141 cumulative average and a 37% strikeout rate. Truth. It doesn't mean Brown won't be a star or an every day player in the future, but it's a limited sample size that severely questions whether or not he can win the starting job from Ben Francisco anytime soon.
Everybody has an opinion. David Murphy of the Daily News says we should leave him alone because, afterall, he's just a kid. Well, he's also projected to be the starting right fielder for a World Series contender.
It's not a perfect comparison, but the situation feels similar to what we were told about Kevin Kolb. He was supposed to be good, but every time we saw him he just looked average- at best. Brown, on the other hand, raked for two seasons in the minors, but, besides one monster, toolsy homerun, has shown us very little against big league pitching. Not to mention the fact that he looks like a horse with a glove on in the outfield.
He's still extremely talented, however; and has more pressure on him than most players at this stage of their career. He will likely turn out to be a fine player, but until the Dom Brown hit tracker registers at least a one this spring, be prepared for a lot more Ben Fran in your life.
11 Responses
My problem with that video is the few shots of him last year hitting the ball are all low pitches. Everyone knows leftys like the ball low. The shots from spring training the ones he swings and misses at are all letter high. Its easy to show videos of him doing good when u want to say leave him alone. and its easy to show videos of swing and miss when you want to show him doing bad. On the other hand I agree with the analysts. hitting .346 means hes doing really well. Leave him alone.
nice link to the diamond backs pitching staff….
sorry mlb changes their links around. this is the problem with them now allowing us to embed video
Can we let the guy get comfortable in his new swing first or what? You know how many repetitions it takes for a baseball swing to stick? Muscle memory is a real bitch. People with the talent of Domonic Brown deserve the benefit of the doubt until they show otherwise. So he’s not going to set the world on fire this season? Big deal. If he can grow into his swing with limited time between AAA and the big club that could pay off big in 2012 and beyond. It’s time to temper the expectations but not throw in the towel.
It’ll be interesting to track Brown’s career vs Michael Taylor…the other prized OF prospect who was included in Halladay deal. The Phils brass made determination that Taylor was more major league ready then, but Brown had bigger ceiling. I recall a Bill Conlin column at the time making the case that Taylor was better and would be a better fit in Phils lineup as a corner OF in the middle of the order.
It will be interesting. I’m sure Conlin’s article was brutal though. He probably referenced the civil war and how many of the soldiers used their right hand as the trigger finger and therefore Taylor is better because he hits right handed.
hahaha joe- nice.
i know im going to get shit for asking this but…what the hell does ZOMG stand for???
@JoeD you’re on fire…still laughing from the Chooch 2 Hot Dogs line from the other post. Anyone have audio of that Lincoln NKS ad?
Love the cheapshots at Kevin Kolb, keep it up!
I’m excited for Ben Francisco to take over the right field spot, the guy deserves his time to shine with the Phillies uniform on. Let Brown grow a little and give Francisco his shot at right field, Brown will have his turn later on when he comes to grip with his hitting situation.
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