The way Charlie Manuel sees it, Dom Brown isnt all that different from Ryan Howard and Jim Thome. After all, during the early portion of each of their careers, they had to be sent back to the minors. Of course, everyone knows how Howard and Thome turned out. The great mystery is what will become of Brown.
Brown, the Phillies top prospect, was sent back to Triple A on Saturday afternoon in order to make room on the 25-man roster for the newly acquired Hunter Pence. At least Brown got a portion of his wish. Firstly, he did not want to be traded from the Phillies and secondly he did not want to return to the minors.
However, Brown was batting cleanup and playing left field for Lehigh Valley on Saturday night and likely will remain on the farm until rosters expand in September.
Last night he was taking it pretty hard, but at the same time his position is much better than he thinks it is, Manuel said.
Its better for Brown because he will have the next month to learn how to play left field and polish up his skills. After all, with Raul Ibanez in the last year of his three-year contract and Pence solidly in place as the right fielder for the next couple of seasons, Browns time is coming.
Sometimes, however, the growing pains can be difficult.
If you go back and look, I sent Ryan Howard out one time, Manuel said. He was in Milwaukee and I think he was like 1 for 18 and was having a hard time and I sent him out.
MLB
Thome was sent out a couple of times. When I had him in Triple A he was having a big year and he asked me, Charlie, why arent I in the big leagues? I said, Because youre not ready to go yet. He said, When am I going to get ready to go? and I said, When I tell you youre going to go and the next time youre going to go youre going to stay and youre going to hit. Forever.
If everything goes according to plan, Brown will travel that same route.
Actually, thats the way we look at Domonic Brown, Manuel said. The next time he comes up here hes going to be ready to go. Hes going to stick instead of having to make a decision to send him down.
Brown sat out of just seven games since joining the Phillies on May 21, starting in right field in 49 of a possible 61 games. He hit five home runs, but hasnt hit one since June 28. Yet despite the power and a bit of shakiness in the field, Brown had a hit in six of his last seven games and was batting .296 in July. He also led the team in pitches per plate appearance and had a .398 on-base percentage for the month.
He was getting there.
I think hes going to be a good hitter. I think he has a chance to be a very good hitter, Manuel said. He needs to work on his defense some and he needs to work on playing the game. The more experience he gets, hes going to be a good player.
In the meantime, for Brown the trip back to the minors is just another hiccup in what was supposed to be a big season. With right fielder Jayson Werth jumping to the Washington Nationals, Brown was penciled in to be the starter. But after long stretches on the bench with the Phillies at the end of the 2010 season and an aborted stint in the Dominican Republic for winter ball, Brown showed up in Clearwater for spring training in a fight for a job.
That fight was given a quick standing-eight count when Brown started the spring 0 for 15 and then broke the hamate bone in his hand while connecting on his first hit.
Brown returned strong for Lehigh Valley and quickly joined the Phillies despite the fact that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said he wasnt quite ready for the big leagues. Nevertheless, Brown stuck and played 54 games.
In the interim, his biggest accomplishment this season might be not being traded to Houston.
We believe Domonic Brown is going to be an outstanding Major League Baseball player, Amaro said before sending the kid out. Hes kind of learning on the job as weve talked about before. Hes done a nice job for us here. Its not a knock on Domonic Brown by any stretch of the imagination. We believe and hope hes going to be a Phillie for a long time. I think for us, again, its one of those moves we made for the present, but for the future. Certainly, Dom is part of that.
After all, the next time Brown joins the Phillies it will be for good.
E-mail John R. Finger at jfinger@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JRFingerCSN.