Domonic Brown Breaks Hand, likely out 3-6 Weeks
Posted by Pat Gallen, Sat, March 05, 2011 04:36 PM | Comments: 15
2011 Spring Training, Analysis, News, Opinion, Posts
According to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, outfielder Domonic Brown broke his right hand during an at-bat earlier on Saturday. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer breaks it down via twitter.
Against Paul Maholm of the Pirates, Brown fouled a ball off and appeared to shake his hand following the pitch, according to Gelb. He then singled up the middle on the next pitch, but was not in the field the following inning. Now, we know why.
Brown broke the hamate bone in his hand and will likely be out 3-6 weeks after surgery. More to come..
UPDATE (4:44 pm): Gelb also tweeted that Ruben Amaro Jr. says no one has the right field job locked up – although you can bet it’ll be Ben Francisco, who is crushing the ball currently. What a tough break for Dom Brown. He may have gotten his first hit of the spring with a broken hand.
What it likely means beyond Ben Francisco being the starter is that Brown will get many, many reps in Triple-A this year – perhaps more than he and others originally thought. What it also means is lack of power. Our own Paul Boyé found an interesting stat from a Rob Neyer column. Neyer says that it can take between 12-18 months to regain full power after a broken hamate in the hand (Scroll down to the answer at 1:03 pm).
If that’s the case, we may not see the real Dom Brown until 2012. Wow.
Posts: 2118 Lefty
Oh man, he broke it on a pitch he fouled off, then hung in there, fought through the pain and got his first hit. Can you imagine if it happened and he had to sit that long on a hitless streak? Not much to feel good about in this situation, but at least we’ve got that. Could be a year before he has full power in the swing, sort of the same thing Utley went through. You can come back in 6 weeks with hand injuries, but the power takes longer to return.
Posted: 05:58 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 104 Dropped Strike Three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A
Well, Ben Francisco just became a viable outfield option in deep fantasy baseball leagues!
Posted: 05:59 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 10 LuckyNucky
If the Phils were contemplating sending Dom Brown North with them, or to AAA, the decision was made for them. Now begs the question: Was it the new batting stance the culprit or just dumb luck?
This poor kid was so confused that maybe it could be a blessing in disguise.
Get Well, Dom
Posted: 06:28 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 680 The Original Chuck P
Gonna sound like a homer but this could be a good thing… It was a long 2010 for Dom that didn’t end well- not enough ABs to get comfortable and then right back to where he lost that confidence in a position battle, asked to change his swing. Not a great situation… Not what a top prospect deserves. Send him back to AAA after this extended break, let him regain his confidence and let him swing the bat the way he knows how.
Posted: 07:35 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 38 GoPhils
Brown wore a shirt in spring training that said “Your time will come.” It was as if he suspected that now was not his time. It’s a shame because I think he was starting to come around today. He got a nice base hit up the middle off of a a lefty who I think is Pittsburgh’s best pitcher (which isn’t saying much, but still). Before the game he said he was finally feeling comfortable. What we have to understand, I think, is that the Phils goofed when they put him on the bench at the end of 2010. By his own account, this messed up his swing and took away a month of development time. Again, by his own account, the bad habits Brown picked up on the bench led to his struggles in winter ball. I think it was he himself who opted out of winter ball, knowing that there were so many kinks in his swing that he was never going to hit down there. He was not tired, because he began to work in Clearwater right away with Ryan Howard to clean up his swing. When spring training began, he was still trying to find a comfort zone after Greg Gross had him lower his hands. I believe he was starting to turn a corner today. But again, it’s not his time now and this could be good, since he has not spent a lot of time in triple A. He just needs to keep going after it and he’ll get here in due time.
Posted: 08:08 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 97 buffy08210
As an MD radiologist I can tell you first the hamate is in the wrist, not the hand, and second, it is a much more complex injury than most hand fractures. I would hope for an eventual full recovery (maybe several months to get to 100%).
Posted: 08:39 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 45 JakeyJ
Was surprised to hear this. Those of us on the 1st base side were cheering him on when he got his hit and he seemed fine,staying in the game until he was missing from right field. We were puzzled why they would pull him when he just finally got his first hit of Spring training.
Posted: 10:19 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 265 Bruce
It was depressing to read about Brown’s injury. As someone posted earlier on this thread, it may well be a blessing in disguise. He has been struggling with his ABs this spring compounded by trying to adjust to a new batting stance. Hopefully, when fully recovered, he can rehab with the AAA farm club and have that time to make the necessary adjustment and be comfortable with his ABs. My guess, is if all goes well, Brown will likely join the Phillies in the month of June.
Posted: 11:33 PM on March 5, 2011
Posts: 1349 Brooks
I’m sure the kid is devastated. Looking forward to his return, get well Dom!
Well everyone who anticipated good things from Ben if he had a chance, here ya go.
I anticipate a trade coming pretty darn soon. Joe, pack up – Phils know better than to pin big hopes on Ben, he’ll get a chance but I hope he doesn’t get a long leash – like Jimmy has, Pat had – and more. Phils need a decent bat playing in the OF and soon.
Posted: 02:45 AM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 1349 Brooks
Yesterday, Jayson Stark wrote an article in ESPN stating that the rest of the league has caught up to the Phils once fabled offense
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2011/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=6182253
If true, this could be a race. If Jimmy, Vic, Howard, Poly, Ibby, Ruiz and co. cannot generate what has proven to be their average seasons production, the Phils will be the highest paid second place team in baseball. What a nightmare, waiting for a near shut out night after night, not getting clutch hitting performances series after series – there is my worst fear.
Posted: 07:17 AM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 92 Ted Bell
Most of the core group is now in various stages of their decline. Only Victorino and Francisco fall into what can be considered their prime years.
Statistically, a batter’s best seasons occur from ages 26-31. Ages 32-35 show a small decline which accelerates after age 35. This is the oldest Phillies team since 1983 (“The Wheeze Kids”), so any concern about the offense is valid.
If they finish second and win the Wild Card, it’s no big deal – this team is built for the postseason anyway. However, in close games they need to figure out how to scratch out runs. As we saw last year in the playoffs, they still don’t have a sense of situational hitting. Unless they can figure it out by October they’ll be losing a lot of 3-2 games. It would be a shame to waste this starting rotation.
I’m Ted Bell.
Posted: 01:07 PM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 2118 Lefty
The “they ” you refer to Ted, that don’t have a sense of situational hitting, IMO should be “he” instead. The Manger of the ball club runs the game, particularly if he’s got players that don’t want to believe that they are aging and have to learn to play differently. An aging pitcher for instance, losing mph on the fastball over the years has to become a junk baller of sorts if he wants longevity, and generally those around him have to tell him even when it’s obvious to everyone else. I love the old man, but recognition of having to change our style all falls on Charlie.
The good news is it appears in ST that he is changing the way some of his players approach the game. I’m not so sure Charlie would have recognized and acted upon Chase’ injury problems so quickly in the past. And Shane seems to have bought in trying to be a better bunter. We’ll see about the rest of the guys as time goes on.
Posted: 01:26 PM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 212 The Dipsy
Well, y know how ya fix that Brooks? Take more pitches. It seems to me that when pitchers are pitching you backwards like that they are just trying to feed on you aggressiveness or perhaps “overaggressiveness”. And Stark is really talking about Ryan. It used to be Ryan and Raul until Raul smartened up and started looking at pitches.
The Dipsy
Posted: 08:27 AM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 1349 Brooks
Agreed Dipsy. However Phils were not to good with that last year and why think they’d change up especially with the pitching to fall back on.
Will we get a first or a second half out of Raul this year?
Posted: 12:17 PM on March 6, 2011
Posts: 0 » Phillies Starters Solid, Continue to Play .500 Ball | Blogging-Baseball.com
[...] [...]
Posted: 12:17 PM on March 7, 2011