Posted by Erik Seybold.
This morning, the Phillies optioned Domonic Brown to minor league camp. Shocker.
Brown was limited to just seven Grapefruit League games this Spring due to injuries including a sprained right thumb on March 8th and a stiff neck this past week. Brown showed success at the plate, batting .300 (6-20) with two triples, one home run, two RBIs, one walk and a .983 OPS. Brown, however, showed that he still needed to work on his fielding.
Brown spoke with media this morning and though he was disappointed, he was not surprised.
“Life goes on,” he said. “I’m going to go down there and play hard. And that’s it. I was not expecting it, but keeping it in the back of my mind. We’ve got a lot of big-name free agent guys. John Mayberry is playing well. They just told me they want to see me out there every day, so Triple-A is the best spot for it. I’ve been through a lot these last couple years. A lot more than some veteran guys, so I think I can deal with it. I think I can handle it. Go down there and play hard and that’s all I can do.”
Remember that the Phillies said that they planed to start Brown in Triple-A Lehigh so he can work on his skills and assets. With other outfield options in John Mayberry, Juan Pierre, Laynce Nix, and Scott Posednik, the Phillies have a stacked outfield. Although Mayberry will platoon with Ty Wigginton and Jim Thome over at first base until Ryan Howard returns, the Phillies have no room for a mediocre fielder in Brown (Sorry, Dom).
When asked if playing in Triple-A will at least give him a clear mind, Brown said, “No, I wanted to be here, man. That’s the goal, but things happen.”
We'll just have to see how things play out from here.
All Quotes via Todd Zolecki.
Erik Seybold is a Contributor for Philliedelphia. You can follow him on Twitter @ErikSeyboldPHI.
