With Shane Victorino Headed To the DL, the Phillies Summon Domonic Brown

The injuries keep piling up for the Philadelphia Phillies. Throughout the year they have seen Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Ryan Madson, and JA Happ go down with injuries. Now they can add one more player to that list.

Starting center fielder Shane Victorino went down on Tuesday night with an abdominal strain and has been placed on the 15-day DL. In order to replace Victorino on the roster, the Phillies have called up, perhaps, the best hitter still left in the minor leagues, Domonic Brown.

 

Brown was in the lineup last night against the Arizona Diamondbacks and he was roping the ball against Edwin Jackson. Brown is a tall, lanky left-handed hitter, who has one of the more unusual batting stances in the game.

He gets in a crouch and then holds the bat high above his head. His stance reminds me a little of a left-handed Matt Williams. It’s definitely not a stance that a hitting coach would teach a young kid, but it obviously works for Brown.

Brown won’t replace Victorino in 2011, but there is a good chance he will replace Jayson Werth, who is most likely departing via free agency. Brown will be the early favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year in 2011.

Here are some other facts about Domonic Brown.

Age: 22

Bats: Left

Throws: Left

College: None

Drafted: 20th round of the 2006 June Draft out of Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I wonder if he knows Jake “The Snake” Roberts? He was from Stone Mountain too.

 

Minor League Stats

2006 Rookie: .214/.292/.265 with one HR and 13 SB’s in 34 games

2007 Low Single-A and High Single-A: .299/.363/.415 with four HR’s and 14 SB’s in 77 games

2008 Single-A: .291/.382/.417 with nine HR’s and 22 SB’s in 114 games

2009 High Single-A and Double-A: .299/.377/.504 with 14 HR’s and 23 SB’s in 106 games

2010 Double-A and Triple-A: .327/.391/.589 with 20 HR’s and 17 SB’s in 93 games

 

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: No. 14 out of 100 best prospects in baseball in 2010

Analysis: “It’s common in scouting circles to refer to an extremely athletic player as ‘a freak,’ but in Brown’s case, his freakishness isn’t limited to his incredible athleticism, but includes how well he has played in pro ball, despite still being fairly crude as a baseball player. He’s long and wiry, listed as an inch taller than Heyward but 15 pounds lighter, built like a young, lean Dave Winfield.

“As raw as Brown is, he does two things like a longtime veteran: He has a good swing path that should produce significant power as he fills out, and if he can keep his weight back a little better—he leaks slightly to his front side now—he has 30-plus homer potential. His biggest deficiency is in the outfield, where his reads are poor and he doesn’t set his feet to throw, but he has the speed and arm strength to become plus at the position and already runs down many balls he misreads.

So on the one hand, Brown’s game still needs a lot of refinement. On the other, if he does continue to develop, the sky is the limit; he could become a player who contributes in all areas offensively, while providing plus defense in right and even adding something on the bases.”

 

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