Phillies Notes: Brown, Draft, Smith

While some people were down on Domonic Brown, who had just 12 career Major League homers entering the season and hit .233/.309/.372 this April, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel believed that he could put together a streak of success at the plate, writes MLB.com’s Stephen Pianovich.  “I’ve made statements about guys like Jim Thome, Brian Giles, guys like that,” Manuel said. “And I’ve had guys in meetings say ’I’m going to tell you to shut up.’ By the end of the year, they don’t tell me to shut up. Seriously, I can name you a lot of guys. That’s part of loving the game. That’s also part of stand up and put what you see.”  Here’s more out of Philly, courtesy of Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer..

• The Phillies are likely to grab a position player with the 16th overall pick in the draft, according to Brookover.  Assistant GM Marti Wolever admitted that he likes first baseman Dominic Smith who comes from the same high school in Northern California that produced Barry Bonds, Jim Fregosi, and Gregg Jefferies.
• The Phillies can look to the rival Braves and Nationals for a reminder of how important the draft is, writes Brookover.  The Nats have eight players on their 25-man roster that they drafted from 2007-2011 while the Phillies have just four in Justin De Fratus (rd. 11, 2007), Michael Stutes (rd. 11, 2008), Tyler Cloyd (rd. 18, 2008), Joe Savery (18th overall, 2007).
• More from Brookover, who writes that the outfield is an issue in the club’s farm system.  Meanwhile, Brown is an example of a draft risk on an outfielder that paid off.  “I know they picked him in the 20th round, but everybody thought he was going to play football and they gave him a lot of money,” the scout said.  Brown got a $200K bonus from the Phillies, which was quite high for a player taken that late in the draft.