The Rockies have agreed to a minor-league deal with outfielder Domonic Brown, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
The 29-year-old Brown was once lauded as one of the five best prospects in all of baseball, coming off a season in which he batted .327/.391/.589 in 93 games between Double-A and Triple-A as a 22-year-old. Brown debuted with the Phillies late that season but didn’t hit much, and he struggled to produce in both 2011 and 2012 as well. In total, the former 20th-round pick batted .236/.315/.388 across his first 147 Major League games, but he looked to have turned a corner in an All-Star 2013 season.
That year, Brown hit .272/.324/.494 with 27 home runs and, from May 1 through mid-August was among the most productive hitters in Major League Baseball. However, Brown’s excellent production was bookended by a pair of feeble stretches at the plate, and he was unable to replicate that production during a 2014 campaign that saw him post a disappointing followup line of .235/.285/.349.
In all, Brown’s brief run of production in 2013 now looks like an outlier, but he’ll hope for a rebound and a return to the Majors in 2017 after struggling through 126 games with Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate last season (.239/.303/.336). Of course, the Rockies hardly present an easy path to the Majors. With left-handed hitters David Dahl, Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez all set to comprise the starting outfield for manager Bud Black (plus lefty Gerardo Parra as a fourth outfield option), there are no obvious spots for Brown to make the roster. Instead, it seems likely that he’ll look to rebuild some confidence in the hitter-friendly confines of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (more specifically with Colorado’s affiliate in Albuquerque).
thought this guy was gonna be a beast. hope he turns it around.
I was thinking the same thing when I started reading this article. Always liked DBrown.
“but he’ll hope for a rebound and a return to the Majors in 2015”
He’s going to hit .228/.284/.349 in 2015. That’s my lock of the week.
Hahaha
You’re a deush
Watched this poor guy lose two fly balls in the night sky in a AAA game last year. I still can’t believe how far he fell from that massive start he had in 2013.
He had a monster performance over the course of one month’s worth of games in 2013 that earned him All-Star honors. That was his entire career in MLB.
Brown was never a good outfielder. I watched him in AA & he made head-scratching mistakes defensively. Offensively, Brown’s swing as holes in it. He swings with a loop and pitchers have been able to use that against him. Brown has never been committed enough to change his swing to be successful. He would do it for a short while, but then revert back to the loop. Unless, he fixes that loop, he isn’t going to find success
Finally the Rockies added a lefty outfielder.
Yeah, just what they needed above anything else. I suppose they’re reserving the right-handed OF role for Ian Desmond at some point. Perhaps this may be a precursor for a trade to bring in a legitimate slugging first baseman with one of their better lefty hitting OF’s as a centerpiece going back in such a deal.
Yet another “can’t miss” top prospect with gaudy minor league stats that people think are more valuable than proven MLB contributors.
Hey man, if you want a crack at the show again youll have to inprove on your 2015 line of .197/.276/.293. Might I suggest a stint in japan or independent ball.
No one thinks that. Brown is cheap, basically free lotto ticket. “Proven MLB contributors” are expensive.
I was talking about his previous prospect status, not now, obviously.
The word “proven” is useless in this context, as it says nothing definitive about the player’s future, only the player’s past. All players have risk going forward, even established big league players. Statistically, they don’t have much (if any) less risk than top prospects. So cherry pick all you want, you look ignorant doing so.
You’d know a thing or two about ignorant posts on here, right?
Statistically, they don’t have much (if any) less risk than top prospects. ~ you wouldn’t happen to have a link to these supposed statistics would you? To say prospects are basically no less risky than proven players is highly dubious. If you’re using data that says the average top prospect will end up contributing about as much value as the average proven player, that doesn’t really address which one is more risky. The prospects would still be riskier (higher ceilings, lower floors), even if the average results ended up being the same.
Dang, how does one go from an .818 OPS and 27 homers in MLB in 2013 to a .639 OPS with 7 homers at AAA in 2016?
That’s a REALLY good question
he can hit but Jesus the guy cannot field at all. it hurt to watch after a while.
He can’t hit. At least not anymore.
Dom Brown was the epitome of the Phillies downfall.
Him and John Mayberry Jr….boy have they fallen.
I like this move quite a bit. Brown has Rockies’ rebound written all over him. Even though he might not even get 150 at-bats, it’s a great opportunity to build his stock
He’ll be lucky if he gets 1 AB in the majors, let alone 150. He can’t even cut it in the minors now.
Always like Dom except for the fact he was a disgusting Cowboys fan
Looks like a guy the Tigers should have taken a flyer on. Got to be better than Moya and Collins!