The Indians announced that they designated Jordan Brown for assignment to make room for Austin Kearns, who was officially added to the 40-man roster.
Brown appeared in 26 games for the Indians last year, batting .230/.272/.310 in 92 plate appearances. He played first base and left field, the two positions he has spent the most time at in the minor leagues. Brown hit .298/.341/.463 in 355 plate appearances at Triple-A in 2010, which was his third year at the minors' highest level.
Brown won the Carolina League MVP in 2006 and the International League batting title in 2009. Before the 2010 season, Baseball America described him as one of the best contact hitters in the Cleveland organization and noted that he was a below-average runner and defender.
Not a bad snag for a team. He appears to have done about all he can be expected to do at AAA, plays both corner outfield in addition to 1st and DH.
I’m calling it now. Diamondbacks
Brown just can’t catch a break in Cleveland. Hopefully he gets picked up by a club that gives him more of an opportunity.
This is why the Indians are the Indians. How can they not find a place for a kid who from ages 21-26 put up a line of .306/.369/.471 in the minors? I’ts not like he’s a late bloomer either. He had a couple of years where his OBP wasn’t great but he never posted a bat avh less than .280 or an OBP less than .340. To designate him to bring in Austin Kearns who is far from a great hitter or great defender doesn’t make sense to me. They gave Brown less than 100 AB in 2010 to prove himself.
The Yanks have zero depth in their farm for OF and even though we need RH OF’ers I would go after Brown provided he can he had for nothing since he’s being DFA’d.
Austin Kearns has more major league power than Brown does and is a far better defender. Brown is a butcher at each of his positions. Defense in Cleveland MUST get better, and Brown just doesn’t have enough major league power to defend his awful glove.
Kearns was a -2.6 in LF last year, a -1.4 (small sample size) at CF last year and a +2.7 in RF last year. That’s FAR from a good defender. That’s about leage average.
I don’t have much to go on for Brown but he was a .60 @ 1b and a .70 at LF in a small 26 game callup. I did find some quotes on him….
“Brown has not posted a fielding percentage below .989 at any position he has played at significantly (more than 40 games), meaning that some of the speculation regarding his defense could be based on his horrendous play during a short stint in rightfield during 2009 and an error-laden campaign at first base in 2008.
If Ultimate Zone Ratings were available for Brown, they would almost certainly reveal an average to below-average fielder with little range, justifying the criticism. Still, Matt LaPorta is far from a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman, making Brown’s future with the team even more murky and curious”.
You could be right about his defense but can the Indians afford to simply give up on him when you have so many needs offensively and LaPorta continues to struggle with his bat and his glove?
Sounds like a toolsy OF for the stockpiling Nats !!! Go and get ’em Rizzo !!!
Brown’s not “toolsy”.
He’s an unathletic contact hitter with practically no power. He’s not going to hit with enough power or get on base enough (his walk rates are poor) to play everyday and he has no defensive value as a bench player.
He’s your classic “tweener” AAAA player.
Surprised the Indians DFA’d him as opposed to a Shelly Duncan type, but he’s no big loss if he gets snagged away.
Practically no power? I wouldn’t call an avg of 10 hrs in the last 3 years @ AAA “no power”. Also, this is a kid who won a batting title @ age 23 in 2007 @ AA and @ age 25 in 2009 @ AAA. In those two seasons he above .330 and had an obp above .380.
He’s been stuck @ AAA for the last 3 years despite a .305/.354/.417 line.
He was given all of 87 AB in 2010 to prove himself? This is a team going no where that doesn’t have a 1b that hit over .263 and only 1 OF who hit over .272. There is ZERO doubt in my mind that he might have been their best hitter for avg and obp outside of Choo. Aside from Choo, they had no starter that hit over .276 last year or had 6 post an obo UNDER .330. This team sucks offensively and being that they are on a budget I can’t see how they can afford to give away cheap, young talent w/ upside (i.e. proven in the minors; too small a sample side in the majors) away!
As an Indians fan, and having seen him in the minors and majors, I can tell you that Brown is limited by his skill set. While he does have pretty good contact skills, he is very sub-par defensively in both the outfield and at first base. In addition, he is slow and doesn’t take walks often, which neutralizes his good batting average, to an extent. Finally, he lacks the power that one would expect from the positions he plays, given his deficiencies. If he had played before sabermetric concepts were heavily used by organizations, he easily could have had a career similar to Bill Buckner’s. But unfortunately, like Bill Buckner, Jordan Brown just isn’t a good Major Leaguer. However, I could see him becoming a good pinch-hitter type player for a National League team, but I would be shocked if he ever becomes a good Major League starter.
I hear you. But I’ll take a .300/.330 hitter w/ 10-15 hr power and at least put him in the mix to compete against guys who have so far showed me nothing in the minors. If I’m going to suck then I’d rather suck watching a rookie work thru his struggles than with a veteran journey man who will mean nothing to the team in 2011 and will probably be deadline trade bait at some point.
For a kid with this skill set, the indians may be giving him a break by allowing him the chance to hook on with another club. You always want to wish player like this well.. and hope he doesn’t turn into Luke Scott.
Another guy that didn’t get a chance in Cleveland because of a certain ex-manager named Eric Wedge. He may or may not ever become a decent ballplayer but he was ruined by Wedge and Shapiro’s love affair with washed-up guys on spring training invitee contracts.
He, along with Michael Aubrey who had the same fate last year, always reminded me of a potential Sean Casey type hitter. Good foul line to foul line hitters that could be doubles machines. But hell, let’s keep Valbuena and Crowe who continue to prove over and over that they will never be contributors to a winning team.
And what has Michael Aubrey done since he left the Indians? I don’t recall him making a big splash with the Orioles.
never claimed he did make a big splash. some injuries sidelined that but he also never got a shot with the tribe is what i’m talking about. just comparing him and brown and the type of hitter they could be had they been given the chance and not blocked because of stupid managers and irritating general managers.
Pirates, maybe?
Pirates, maybe?