In May of 2013, Domonic Brown hit .303 with 12 home runs and 25 RBIs.
That month led to his first All-Star appearance.
In May of 2014, Brown hit .146 with three home runs and 17 RBIs.
That month caused him to lose regular playing time.
In a recent conversation with CSN's Marshall Harris, Brown pointed to that month as the one that he could not overcome.
"I looked at the months and ... I just had one bad month," Brown said. "That definitely happens, but with coming in the second half and not playing every single day, it definitely starts to play with you a little bit because you know you're not going to get those at-bats to catch up to that month. It's hard to get comfortable and hard to get in rhythm and sync when you're not playing every single day, so it's tough to have one of those big months like I had in 2013 when you're not getting the reps."
Brown hit .253 in April, .260 in June, .268 in July, .263 in August and .231 the rest of the way. But the Phillies aren't looking for him to win batting titles; they want him to hit the ball out of the park. Brown finished with just 10 home runs, 17 fewer than last season.
MLB
"I'm not worried about that," Brown said. "Power's there. I'm not worried about that at all."
Part of Brown's decline could be attributed to the departure of Wally Joyner, who was the Phils' assistant hitting coach in 2013 but left to become the Detroit Tigers' hitting coach.
"It definitely was a little different. I was around Wally most of the day," Brown said. "In 2013, I've had times we'd go after the game and I'd cry right beside Wally. I know a lot of people don't know that. I want to win. We've been struggling the last couple years. I don't like losing. I don't like losing at all. He was a big mentor toward me. We went to the same high school. We connected as soon as I met him — the very first day."
As Corey Seidman examined last week, Brown's struggles were more than just at the plate. He was shaky in the field, giving him a value of minus-30.8 runs defensively over the last two seasons according to Fangraphs. Brown, unlike Phillies fans, does not see his struggles in the field as reason for concern.
"You're going to have bad times out there," Brown said. "It's not like I'm out there napping. You're going to boot a ball here and there. That's going to happen with the course of the season. I don't know how many errors I had — (two) — throughout the season. That stuff's going to happen."
Brown's future with the Phils is uncertain — general manager Ruben Amaro has pledged that changes are coming — but he hopes he returns to the team that drafted him in 2006.
"I don't know if I'm going to be here or not, but I definitely hope so," Brown said. "This is my home here. I love Philadelphia. The fans and everything have treated me great. We'll see I guess."