ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The news Tuesday night was encouraging for Chase Utley and for Ryan Howard, too. Not so much for Domonic Brown.
Brown, the one-time top prospect in all of minor-league baseball, hasnt played since leaving a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game on June 14 with a right knee strain. A variety of injuries have caused Brown to miss 29 of the IronPigs 76 games this year and may have kept him from joining the struggling big-league club at some point.
IronPigs manager Ryne Sandberg on Tuesday night said Browns rehab has not gone as well as originally hoped.
Hes coming along, Sandberg said before the IronPigs faced the Rochester Red Wings at Coca-Cola Stadium. "Its going a little bit slower than we hoped it would take."
Brown, 24, was hitting .266 in 47 games with the IronPigs before his latest injury. Hes hit .292 in 517 career minor-league games over seven years at various levels in the Phillies organization.
Sandberg said Brown was evaluated by team medical people at some point Tuesday and will be seen again by doctors on Thursday.
He has yet to resume any baseball-related activities.
MLB
He hasnt done anything baseball-wise, Sandberg said. Hes just gotten treatment and total shutdown and healing and so hes taken to that. Its going real well as far as how he feels doing that. Hes getting closer to baseball activities.
In 91 games on the major-league level, Brown has hit .236 with seven home runs. He hasnt spent any time with the Phillies this year and has just one major-league at-bat since getting sent down last July 30, when the Phils acquired Hunter Pence.
Hopefully, we can get him on to baseball activities and get him going toward getting on the field, Sandberg said. Hes still got some time to go. Its going a little bit slower and I think its a little bit cautionary also on the organizations part to make sure its done right and it gets behind him and he can have a number of healthy days down the stretch.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com