Indians Top 100 Prospects: #20 Jordan Brown

20. Jordan Brown - First Baseman
Born: 12/18/1983 - Height: 6'0" - Weight: 205 - Bats: Left - Throws: Left

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	21	Mahoning Vy	A-	19	75	15	19	1	0	3	7	3	7	2	.253	.291	.387	.678
2006	22	Kinston	A+	125	473	71	137	26	7	15	87	51	59	4	.290	.362	.469	.831
2007	23	Akron	AA	127	483	85	161	36	2	11	76	63	56	11	.333	.421	.484	.905
2008	24	Buffalo	AAA	109	420	52	118	30	3	7	51	35	67	3	.281	.337	.417	.754
		Career		380	1451	223	435	93	12	36	221	152	189	20	.300	.372	.455	.827

History:  Brown was a 4th round pick in the 2005 Draft out of the University of Arizona.  After a very slow start in 2006 at advanced Single-A Kinston where he hit .232 with 0 HR and 9 RBI in the first 28 games that season, Brown settled in to finish the season hitting .290 with 15 HR, 87 RBI and an .831 OPS and won the Carolina League MVP Award.  At Double-A Akron in 2007 his .333 batting average won him a league batting title and his second consecutive league MVP award, this time in the Eastern League.  Brown's back-to-back MVP seasons in 2006 and 2007 are only rivaled by Victor Martinez as he won the Carolina League MVP in 2001 and the Eastern League MVP in 2002 in successive years just like Brown.  Brown was also the Topps Carolina League Player of the Year in 2006 and Topps Eastern League Player of the Year in 2007. 

Strengths & Opportunities:  Brown is a pure hitter with incredible hand-eye coordination and a passion for hitting.  He is a persistent hitter who is a tough out and one of the best hitters in minor league baseball at bat-to-ball ability and making hard, consistent contact.  He is a very disciplined hitter and gets on-base at a very good clip, and has an amazing ability to put up consistent numbers from month to month.  He has good gap power and piles up doubles, and his bat profiles well in the majors where he projects to be a high average hitter with the ability to hit 15-20 HR a year.  Scouts rave about his sweet swing and approach at the plate and consider him a major league ready hitter right now.  One scout even compared him to a Kevin Youkilis type from the left side of the plate because of how tough of an out he is, although he is typically compared to players who more fit his profile like Sean Casey, Mark Grace, and John Olerud because of the good gap power, sweet swing, and ability to hit for average. 

Brown is one of the hardest workers in the system as he is not gifted with great physical abilities, but his outstanding work ethic and intelligence help make up for it.  He came into the system as a below average first baseman, but has become a good defensive first baseman which is a testament to his strong work ethic and athleticism.  He moves around the bag well, has good footwork, and reacts well to balls hit to him.  While he has mostly played first base throughout his college and professional career, he did play outfield for one season at Kinston in 2006.  He is a below average outfielder, but his flexibility to adequately play both first base and outfield will help him down the road at making a big league team.  While he only has average speed, his intelligence as a person and runner helps him get good jumps to steal bases and take extra bases on hits. 

The big red flag with Brown in his four year career has been his propensity to get injured.   Shortly after signing with the Indians in 2005, he suffered a hand injury which limited him to only 19 games at short-season Single-A Mahoning Valley.  He played through an injury in to his left knee for the last four months of the season at Akron in 2007 where he had scar tissue and bone chips in his knee causing pain, but opted to play through the season and have arthroscopic surgery in the offseason.  The knee acted up again last year early in the season at Triple-A Buffalo as he missed almost three weeks with patellar tendonitis to his left knee, and it seemed to really hinder him the rest of the season and it showed in his numbers.  The injury was an annoyance and at times the pain was unbearable, which took away some of the power in his swing to where he could not sit on his back leg when he swung and consistently drive the ball. 

Adopting an approach at the plate like Brown has is very rare as few players have the ability to put the bat on the ball at a consistent rate like he does.  He actually came into the Indians system sort of as a hacker, and it wasn't until after his first year in the system he understood the value of getting good pitches to hit.  He understands that he can not do damage early in the count with marginal pitches, and he has developed into one of the best strike zone managers in baseball.  What holds him back is as a corner guy he does not possess the big bat teams typically like to see play there, but if you can hit you will play somewhere and with his outstanding bat-to-ball ability the Indians or someone else will find room for him.  Going forward, there is not a lot he needs to do as a hitter as he really just needs to continue working on putting up consistent at bats and get better at learning to understand and identify the way opposing pitchers are pitching to him.  The Indians want him to continue working on his defense at first and improve on becoming more fluid in his movement around the bag.  They will also continue to work on his first step quickness as well as his positioning with relay throws from the outfield.  He also needs to improve as a base-runner by reading pitchers to get better jumps on the bases.  That all said, his main focus will be to stay healthy, and if he does that while making these minor improvements, he could be a very solid major leaguer for a long time. 

Outlook:  Brown embodies exactly what the Indians lineup needs. While the Indians could use a little more thump in the lineup with a big power bat, probably their biggest need is for a hitter that hits around .300 who can consistently put the bat on the ball.  He got a hard dose of reality this offseason when he not only was not rostered by the Indians, but also not picked up in the Rule 5 Draft.  In all, 2008 was certainly not his year with the injuries and the disappointing offseason he went through, but he is as strong-willed as they come and extremely mentally tough.  He is on a mission to come back strong this year and prove the doubters wrong, and his determination could pay off with a big rebound year.  He should open the 2009 season as the regular first baseman at Triple-A Columbus. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr 

Jordan Brown MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page 

Jordan Brown Baseball-Reference page 

Jordan Brown MinorLeagueSplits.com page 

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