2011 Fantasy Baseball Hot Prospects: Domonic Brown
The 2011 season has already been unkind to Phillies prospect Domonic Brown as he will miss 4-6 weeks after having surgery to repair a broken Hamate bone in his right hand. Brown was the frontrunner to be the Phillies opening day right fielder but will now have to wait until late April before returning to action. While this injury does dampen the excitement most of us had for Brown entering the season, this should not impact his fantasy outlook very much if at all.
Domonic Brown — OF — Philadelphia Phillies
Height: 6’5″ Weight: 200 lbs — Hits: Left Throws: Left
2010 Stats — .210/.257/.355, 2 HR, 13 RBI, 8 runs, 2 steals
(Minor League Totals AA & AAA) — .327/.391/.589, 20 HR, 68 RBI, 65 runs, 17 steals
Scouting Report — Domonic Brown is an outstanding physical specimen. He is also a gifted athlete who can do just about everything there is on the baseball field. He hits for average, power, has good speed both out of the box and on the basepaths, has good range in the outfield and possesses a cannon for an arm. His swing is simple and surprisingly compact for having such long arms and he generates great whip action through the strikezone. While there are scouts who project Brown as someone who will hit for a plus batting average, he has a tendency to open up his front foot too early which reduces his coverage to the outside part of the plate. This was a flaw that was exposed early and often in his September callup and something major league pitchers will use against him consistently. He has a great attitude as well and takes to coaching quite well also. Brown is an extreme talent but is still raw in a few areas such as patience at the plate, hitting to the opposite field and taking proper routes to the ball in the outfield.
2011 Analysis — It was very unfortunate that Brown broke the Hamate bone in his right hand after just 16 spring at-bats and will be out of commission until mid to late April. But his fantasy value and sleeper potential are still outstanding and should not be taken too lightly. Brown will have plenty of chances to prove himself this season though it would be wise to expect a slow start when he initially returns from hand surgery. The power numbers should hold true to his minor league totals and that means between 16-20 taters while his batting average and stolen base numbers will likely go down. Brown may never post the big stolen base totals you might expect from such a fast player because of his low walk totals and his extra base hitting ability. He just won’t end up on first base as much as you would like and thus the stolen base number may disappoint. Still, there is a lot of upside in Domonic Brown as he has the potential to post great numbers across the board and be a late round fantasy force for those who draft him in 2011.
Compare To — Carlos Gonzalez, Drew Stubbs, Barry Bonds
Jeff Mans is a Bleacher Report contributor and a Senior Writer at Fantasy Alarm.
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