Brown out to top breakthrough year
02/28/2006
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Emil Brown looked very relaxed in the Royals' clubhouse on Tuesday. He's in a veterans' corner, just a couple of stalls from Reggie Sanders.
Brown was leafing through a magazine.
"I like it, just how everybody gets along," said Brown. "I like that a lot."
A year ago, there was no sense of relaxation for Brown. He was across the room, sitting next to Adrian Brown and some other outfield wannabes. He was wearing No. 73, about as anonymous as he could be.
As he did most every year, Brown was just waiting for the ax to fall and to be shipped off to Triple-A. Abraham Nunez was supposed to play right field.
Then something odd happened. Nunez couldn't hit his weight.
"If he'd have had a decent spring, there would have been no story, because they had him in," said Brown. "So he wasn't doing too well. I was doing my thing, and it just all started working out for me. I started getting more and more at-bats. I guess they wanted to see if I could really hit or not."
Brown started getting some good hacks. General manager Allard Baird noticed how well Brown stayed within the strike zone and refused to chase poor pitches.
Brown's batting average climbed. The right-field job came within his grasp.
"I never once got that confident," said Brown. "With kind of like 10 days left, something like that, I kind of had the feeling it was leaning toward that. But I tried to be real conservative."
He'd been there before, as he was in 2004, with the Cardinals.
"The same thing happened with St. Louis," he said. "Right before we went to St. Louis, I got shipped out. So I kind of had a feeling, but I wasn't 100 percent sure."
Before long, he was. Nunez was put on waivers, and was claimed by the Seattle Mariners. Brown became the Royals' right fielder and had a feast -- 17 home runs, 86 RBIs, a .286 average and a full-time Major League job for the first time in his career.
"One thing about him," said hitting coach Andre David, "is that on every pitch, the pitcher knew he was in for a battle. [Brown] focused on making contact with the baseball. He was locked in."
Yet the question is: Was Brown's breakthrough season, coming at age 30, just a fluke?
"You just wait, you just wait," said Brown. "I can't wait for the season to start. There won't be any more question after this.
"I don't think anybody thought it was a fluke. It's not like I hit 50 or 40 home runs. I mean, I did OK, but I didn't hit 40."
Manager Buddy Bell is keeping a close watch on Brown -- not for glitches in his swing but for glitches in his play around left field, where he's moving to as Sanders takes over in right field.
"The thing about Brownie is he had such a good year offensively," said Bell. "What happens in the Minor Leagues -- and I was talking to him about that this morning -- is you concentrate so much [on offense] because that's how you're going to get to the big leagues.
"And sometimes what happens is you get away from your defensive work because you do so much work offensively. The problem is, when you get to the big leagues, defense becomes such an important issue. And you can get sent back down just as easily because you can't play defense as you can offense. That becomes a big factor."
It was a factor last season, when Brown made 12 errors, the most among Major League outfielders. The suspicion is that he was too often musing about a failure at bat in the previous inning than he was about playing his position.
"I think Brownie just has to re-program himself defensively, because he's very qualified and very athletic, with a good arm," said Bell. "He wants to do it, he just has to concentrate on it."
Brown did contribute nine assists, the seventh-highest total in the American League.
Bell counts himself as a Brown fan. After all, Brown provided the run-parched Royals with team highs in runs scored (75), as well as his 86 RBIs.
"He's great," said Bell, grinning. "I like talking to him. He's a smart kid. He's a real joy to be around -- if he shows up on time. We're working on that part, too."
Brown, wearing No. 35, looks right at home in the clubhouse.
"I'm actually sitting next to Royals players now," he said.
Source: http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Emil Brown looked very relaxed in the Royals' clubhouse on Tuesday. He's in a veterans' corner, just a couple of stalls from Reggie Sanders.
Brown was leafing through a magazine.
"I like it, just how everybody gets along," said Brown. "I like that a lot."
A year ago, there was no sense of relaxation for Brown. He was across the room, sitting next to Adrian Brown and some other outfield wannabes. He was wearing No. 73, about as anonymous as he could be.
As he did most every year, Brown was just waiting for the ax to fall and to be shipped off to Triple-A. Abraham Nunez was supposed to play right field.
Then something odd happened. Nunez couldn't hit his weight.
"If he'd have had a decent spring, there would have been no story, because they had him in," said Brown. "So he wasn't doing too well. I was doing my thing, and it just all started working out for me. I started getting more and more at-bats. I guess they wanted to see if I could really hit or not."
Brown started getting some good hacks. General manager Allard Baird noticed how well Brown stayed within the strike zone and refused to chase poor pitches.
Brown's batting average climbed. The right-field job came within his grasp.
"I never once got that confident," said Brown. "With kind of like 10 days left, something like that, I kind of had the feeling it was leaning toward that. But I tried to be real conservative."
He'd been there before, as he was in 2004, with the Cardinals.
"The same thing happened with St. Louis," he said. "Right before we went to St. Louis, I got shipped out. So I kind of had a feeling, but I wasn't 100 percent sure."
Before long, he was. Nunez was put on waivers, and was claimed by the Seattle Mariners. Brown became the Royals' right fielder and had a feast -- 17 home runs, 86 RBIs, a .286 average and a full-time Major League job for the first time in his career.
"One thing about him," said hitting coach Andre David, "is that on every pitch, the pitcher knew he was in for a battle. [Brown] focused on making contact with the baseball. He was locked in."
Yet the question is: Was Brown's breakthrough season, coming at age 30, just a fluke?
"You just wait, you just wait," said Brown. "I can't wait for the season to start. There won't be any more question after this.
"I don't think anybody thought it was a fluke. It's not like I hit 50 or 40 home runs. I mean, I did OK, but I didn't hit 40."
Manager Buddy Bell is keeping a close watch on Brown -- not for glitches in his swing but for glitches in his play around left field, where he's moving to as Sanders takes over in right field.
"The thing about Brownie is he had such a good year offensively," said Bell. "What happens in the Minor Leagues -- and I was talking to him about that this morning -- is you concentrate so much [on offense] because that's how you're going to get to the big leagues.
"And sometimes what happens is you get away from your defensive work because you do so much work offensively. The problem is, when you get to the big leagues, defense becomes such an important issue. And you can get sent back down just as easily because you can't play defense as you can offense. That becomes a big factor."
It was a factor last season, when Brown made 12 errors, the most among Major League outfielders. The suspicion is that he was too often musing about a failure at bat in the previous inning than he was about playing his position.
"I think Brownie just has to re-program himself defensively, because he's very qualified and very athletic, with a good arm," said Bell. "He wants to do it, he just has to concentrate on it."
Brown did contribute nine assists, the seventh-highest total in the American League.
Bell counts himself as a Brown fan. After all, Brown provided the run-parched Royals with team highs in runs scored (75), as well as his 86 RBIs.
"He's great," said Bell, grinning. "I like talking to him. He's a smart kid. He's a real joy to be around -- if he shows up on time. We're working on that part, too."
Brown, wearing No. 35, looks right at home in the clubhouse.
"I'm actually sitting next to Royals players now," he said.
Source: http://kansascity.royals.mlb.com/
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