Clearwater Report: Dom Brown to Minors, Utley Addresses Media
On Friday, the Phillies optioned left fielder Domonic Brown to Triple-A. Brown had just gained clearance to play on Friday after missing a week of major league camp with a stiff neck suffered during a bus ride. The so far flop of an MLB prospect is still rated as one of the top five best prospects in the game as recently as in the winter of 2010-11.
Coming in to Spring Training 2012, Brown’s goal was to earn a spot on the 25-man roster. Since the first week of camp though it was widely assumed that Brown’s goal was far-fetched and that he was destined to start his 2012 season in the minor leagues. Due to his stiff neck and a sore thumb that he suffered while diving for a ball in a game that he miss-read to begin with, he only played in seven games for the Phillies this spring. In those seven games, Brown was 6-20 hitting giving himself a .300 average. Those numbers are decent considering his limited amount of game time this year, but his defense is the killer.
Most people are accrediting to his lack of success in catching the ball (something a 10-year old can do consistently) to the fact that he is switching from right-field to left-field after the Phillies acquired Hunter Pence in the middle of last season. I see that as a poor excuse as it is fundamentals and one of the most highly touted prospects of recent memory should be able to catch the ball regardless of where he is on the field.
It seems that Brown will be down in AAA again for a good amount of time until he can figure out his game and see if he has the skill set to survive more than a few weeks in the big leagues. The fact that it is taking this long for Brown to mature as a baseball player is a bit scary, but if John Mayberry Jr. can become a consistent player out in left-field, the Phillies can afford to have Brown screw around down in Lehigh Valley for just a little bit longer.
• Chase Utley did something today that he hasn’t done in a while. No, not play baseball. He talked to the media and actually revealed some worthy information. The second baseman gave an update on his two ailing knees. He made it very clear that he is not having surgery to repair them, he is not retiring and that he WILL play this season.
In his interview today Utley did not set a timetable for his return, but he did say it will be a while, “I will take this process fairly slow, because I think it’s important to get everything around my knees working correctly,” Utley said. “And I think it’s going to take a little bit of time. I’m disappointed. I’m upset. I’m not happy that I’m in this situation right now, but I’m not going to let that deter me and get me down.”
Utley also cleared up all the confusion over what is actually wrong with him. He says he has chondromalacia (I grant you permission to go WebMD it now before you finish reading this). Utley described it as, “…a roughening of the cartilage underneath the patellar.” Utley again reiterates that this condition will not end his career. His plan is to follow a daily routine of manual therapy, strength and mobilization of the joints. He believes doing that will bring him back to the field without having to get surgery or injections.
The hard-working second baseman says he is in better condition than last season. He also claims that his right knee is feeling fine and that his left knee is hampering him the most. Utley says he was in more pain last year than he is this year.
It is just a waiting game now to see how Utley progresses with his rehab and hopefully he can set a timetable for his return. He wants to get things recovered properly and not rush things. I like his philosophy as I would take one mediocre season where maybe the Phillies don’t win as many games as they should due to the absence of Utley in order to have Utley for years to come; instead of having him earlier in the 2012 season, having him get hurt and possibly costing him his career. The Phillies as a team are aging and they don’t have too many more years of prominence left with this roster, but they have to ride it out and get as much as they can out of the star players they have now.
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