It didn’t take youngster Domonic Brown all that long to get accustomed to major league pitching. 

In just his 11th — and what would wind up being his last — Grapefruit League game in ‘10, Domonic Brown had the unenviable task of going up against perennial Cy Young contender for the Detroit Tigers, Justin Verlander.

In his first AB vs. the hard throwing righty, Dom got in a quick hole but stayed in there fouling pitches off until he finally worked the count full by laying off a pitch that was just a millimeter low and inside.  On the very next pitch, the kid caught up to a fastball middle-in and fucking WALLOPED it out of Bright House Field on into oncoming traffic on RTE 19.

It was a picturesque blast (that I tried to capture above, with his Strawberry-like swing and follow through) that made just about every Phillies fan in the world a little less worried that their team might be on the verge of losing Jayson Werth after this season.

Of course, I knew what kind of player Dom was cause I can spot raw talent a mile away, but at least the rest of you late comers got a glimpse of The Future®.  If you’d like to watch the officially licensed MLB video of his two homer, 4 RBI day, click HERE.  If you’d like to watch Dom talk, followed by Ryan Howard & Charlie Manuel practically salivating over the kid, click HERE.

See you in September (if not sooner), Domonic.

Oh yeah, and next time — spell his fucking name right.  Thanks.

Look, people — I know it takes some getting used to when a guy just all of a sudden springs something on you like, “Hey, you’ve been spelling my name wrong. Would you mind spelling it Domonic — with an “o” — from now on?” I mean, I remember back in ‘91 when Akeem Olajuwon told everyone he wanted to be known as Hakeem and it took me until about ‘97 to get it right, but he was already an established player. This is Domonic’s first bit of national exposure with the major league club. The spelling of his name should not be an issue. But then, on myphl17’s coverage of the Phillies/Twins game on Saturday, this happened:

GRRRRRRRR

In unrelated news that doesn’t anger me, I’d just like to publicly congratulate the fellas over at The 700 Level on their new partnership deal with Comcast SportsNet. When I was a wee blogger with zero internet connections on a startup baseball website, the people who helped me out the most — BY FAR — were Enrico and Matt P. They are stand up gentlemen who run an incredible website, and I wish them nothing but the best.

Not only is this move well deserved, but it’s long overdue.

So congrats Enrico, Matt P, Kulp, and Andrew. I’m looking forward to the next time I see you so you can buy me a bunch of beers with your new Comcast money. SHOTS ON ENRICO!

When I got word that my boy Dave Brown (of Yahoo! Sports fame, not the former Flyers brawler) was headed down to Clearwater yesterday to mingle with the Philadelphia Phillies at Spring Training, I had two simple requests:  touch Jayson Werth’s beard, and find out what number Domonic Brown wants to wear when he finally makes the big league squad.

The first request was because I wanted him to go down in history as the first person (on record) to get to touch the glorious patch of hair that has been growing on Mr. Werth’s face since the end of last season, but the second — the Dom Brown number thing — was purely selfish.

You see, a little over a month ago, I got the bright idea that I wanted to be the first human being (before Domonic Brown, even) to have a Phillies jersey displaying the name and number of my favorite phenom with the sweetest of left-handed strokes.

So I went to Phillies.com and ordered my customized #3 Domonic Brown batting practice jersey.

Since then, besides getting a bunch of “who the hell is Brown 3?”, I’ve been concerned that perhaps I got the wrong number on the back and my fairly expensive jersey would be rendered obsolete once he made the majors and picked a different digit.

But then Dave Brown came through and made me feel better about my purchase:

Come the time for him to play in the majors, Brown says he would choose to wear No. 3 if available. It’s Brown’s favorite number because he was born on the third day of September.

Right now, Ross Gload wears No. 3 for the Phillies. If he or another player is blocking Brown come the time he reaches the majors and bribery won’t work for a switch, Brown could go for No. 24 or No. 30 — numbers worn by his favorite player as a kid, Ken Griffey Jr.

Whew!

But that ain’t the only thing Dave Brown found out, folks.  Head over to read his Dom Brown report from Clearwater to check out the rest, including Charlie Manuel mistaking (mispronouncing?) Domonic for The Human Highlight Film.

You must check it out, even though he still won’t tell me whether or not he got to touch Werth’s beard.

Name and number, please: Phillies’ Brown just happy to be here | Big League Stew
(Photo via Rants, Raves, and Random Thoughts)

I was checking out my boy Jim Salisbury’s outfielder piece on his “State of the Phillies” series over on CSN Philly this morning so I could absorb the valuable tid-bits of information in order to fully prepare myself for the upcoming 2010 season. It’s a nice, easy read reminding everyone that the Phillies once again have the best OF corps in the majors. Among the good stuff, Sully mentions how Shane Victorino will most likely slide into the 7-hole in the batting order, reiterates how it’s gonna be awfully tough to re-sign Jayson Werth after this season, but then towards the end he gets to my new favorite topic — Domonic Brown.

Salisbury, the hard-working quote gatherer that he is, talked with some scouts about the rapid development of young Mr. Brown and lined them up in an easy-to-read fashion towards the end of his column.

I added a few of my own to spice this piece up a little bit, but you get the idea…

Scouts of who’ve seen Brown extensively have described him this way:

“A future big-league all-star.”

“He’s special.”

“I want his babies.”

“A five-tool player.”

“I done never seen such a skinny mutherfucker hit a goddamn baseball as far as this Demon fella.”

“Not a great athlete trying to play baseball. A baseball player who is a great athlete.”

“You have the wrong number, I’d really appreciate it if you would stop calling.”

“Darryl Strawberry with a head.” (← That one’s real!)

“Darryl Strawberry without the crack addiction.” (← That one’s not.)

Ernie Whitt, who was Brown’s manager at Single-A Clearwater last summer, raves about Brown’s talent, work ethic and character.

“I’d like to be his agent,” Whitt said.

Brown, 22, is a sinewy 6-foot-5, 210-pounder. He passed up a chance to be a football receiver at the University of Miami to sign with the Phillies out of high school in 2006. He runs well, throws well and projects to hit for average and power with a whip-like left-handed swing reminiscent of Strawberry’s.

You had me at “recruited to be a receiver for The U”.

Honestly, the more I hear about Domonic, the more I think he’s going to be the greatest player in the history of professional baseball.

Salisbury’s State of the Phillies: The Outfield | CSN Philly
Photo/Flickr user BeGreen90

Won’t somebody please think of the prospects?!

While the entire Phillies fanbase was gearing up for the impending Roy Halladay trade, CSNPhilly’s resident minor league writer Kevin Czerwinsk was busy checking in with some of the potential trade pieces that have never played a game in the majors.

Check out what Kyle Drabek, Domonic Brown, and Travis d’Arnaud had to say:

Kyle Drabek:

“I’m not sure they would [call to say you’re not getting traded], but if they did I would be thankful,” Drabek said. “If they ended up doing that, it would say a lot that they don’t want to get rid of me. But you have me and Brown at Double-A and Michael Taylor at Triple-A, and this is Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in the Majors. It’s kind of amazing to be talked about with him.”

“I paid a little attention to it in July but it was on [TV] all the time and my teammates were all around me talking about it,” Drabek said. “Right now it’s a little easier to not think about it.”

Dom Brown:

“I really don’t know what’s going on,” Brown said. “I’m just happy to be mentioned in this. Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee and I are mentioned in a deal. That’s really great. I want to play at Citizen’s Bank Park but things happen and this is a business.

“A lot of people say that [they don’t want to trade us]. But like I said, this is a business. A guy with the stature of Roy Halladay, that’s a big-time name and I haven’t done anything yet. You never know what will happen. I was looking to be a Phillie and hopefully I will be a Phillie but this is business. I’m just not trying to get overwhelmed by the situation.”

“I had a great time there and a great experience but I didn’t do as well as I thought I should have,” Brown said. “I started off hot and I think I kind of just got tired at the end. That’s not going to happen to me again, getting tired. I’m going to work had and prepare myself this off-season. We’ll see what happens over the next few days with this trade.”

Travis d’Arnaud:

“I’m just kind of trying to figure out what’s going on,” said d’Arnaud, who was the 37th pick in the 2007 draft and is considered to be Philadelphia’s top catching prospect. “I’m pretty excited about it. Whatever gets me up there faster [to the Major Leagues]. If I can get up there faster with Toronto, than I am excited about it.

“I’m surprised and shocked about that this is going on. I just play ball and try to have fun. I don’t ever think about who is watching me.”

And last, but certainly not least, Scott Lauber spoke with Cliff Lee’s wife Kristen about the deal:

“Obviously, something’s going on,” Kristen Lee said by phone tonight from Arkansas. “I’m shocked, and I’d be really sad. But it’s baseball.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — you can’t get anything past Kristen Lee.

Drabek, Brown, d’Arnaud In Dark About Any Deal | CSN Philly

Photos, all via Flickr: Kyle Drabek/narcowich | Dom Brown/BeGreen90 | Travis d’Arnaud/Hanbone

See that fella up there who looks pretty damn sharp in his home white Phillies uni with the red pinstripes?  That’s Domonic Brown.  Or Lil’ Darryl Strawberry as I like to call him.

A few months ago, Philadelphia’s über OF prospect alerted the media that they have been misspelling his name for his entire minor league career.  It was an honest mistake, but his parents named him Domonic, with an “o”, not the traditional Dominic, with an “i”.  And up until that point, no one really knew, so they spelled it incorrectly the whole time.

It’s not really that big of a deal, but apparently some members of the print media (okay, just one) haven’t adjusted so well to the change, and resorted to calling our talented future outfielder an “idiot” for spelling it that way.

That guy is Matthew Fleishman, editor of the Yardley News.  In his most recent “hot stove” article, Matthew put a little NFP note about Domonic Brown.  In “the biz”, NFP is short for NOT FOR PUBLICATION, meaning it’s a note to the editor explaining why something that may look strange is actually correct.  Unfortunately for Matt, his little NFP was published.

Check it out (screen grab and story courtesy of ‘Duk at Big League Stew):

Ouch. Nothing like calling a guy an idiot for having the gall to ask people to spell his name the way it’s spelled on his birth certificate. That seems a little mean, Matthew, and I’m pretty sure you owe our sweet swinging lefty an apology.

(*NFP: Matthew Fleishman is a fucking moron)

‘Idiot’ paper notes unusual spelling of Phillies’ Domonic Brown | Big League Stew
Phillies’ hot stove is heating up | Yardley News

Photo by Flickr user Dulamae

Over in Reading on Sunday, our handsome little Double-A squad, the R-Phils, were set to battle those pesky Bay Sox from Bowie for a pair of 7-inning games (I don’t understand it either). Immediately following the second game, a Beatles cover band named Number Nine were performing for the sold-out crowd (seriously), but during the game, they were busy paying tribute to the 45th anniversary of the Beatles. Since I’m not the biggest Beatles fan around, I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was that it was the 45th anniversary of (Their first album? Inaugural trip to America? When they met?), but what I can do is dig through people’s Flickr accounts and post pictures of Domonic Brown on the jumbotron looking like one of the fab four. Check it out, blokes:

Just to warn you, Domonic Brown is my new favorite Phillies-related obsession. So no matter if he’s hitting 400+ foot home runs out of FirstEnergy Stadium, or plastered on the jumbotron in a silly haircut, I’m probably gonna post about it.

Photo: Flickr/sulimasa

Somewhat lost in the ruckus surrounding Pedro Martinez’s minor league rehab start in Class AA Reading last night was the continued maturation of the R-Phils newest call-up, super phenom Dom Brown. The man Jonathan Mayo recently tabbed as the 24th best prospect in all of baseball went 2-for-4 at the plate including a MONSTER shot in the 1st that left FirstEnergy Stadium in a hurry, traveled an estimated 426 feet, and wound up bouncing into the wall of an Auto Glass shop across the street. Then he would go on to hit an RBI double to the gap in left-center and throw an opposing player out at 3rd base from right field.

Not too shabby for the young guy.

But perhaps the strangest part of the evening for Mr. Brown was when he informed the press that people have been misspelling his name for his whole life. It’s DOMONIC, not Dominic.

And according to intrepid reporter John R. Finger of CSN, he was just too polite to correct anybody.  Even David Murphy chimed in on the Tweets and said that Izzy Gould of the St. Petersburg Times — who covered Domonic in high school — has been spelling his name the traditional way all these years.

Oh well, as long as he keeps mashing homers and piling up outfield assists he can spell his name however the fuck he wants. But for future reference, just remember — it’s Domonic.

Reading’s Brown Making a Name For Himself | CSN Philly

UPDATE: After the jump, check out the footage of Domonic’s mammoth blast…

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