Dom Brown showed a brief sign of life in July 2015

A strong close to the month made us hope that maybe he could find his way back to stardom

We all remember Dom Brown’s 2013 season in which he went on a home run binge, and it looked as if the former top prospect had finally broken through to become a superstar. You probably remember that he followed that up with an awful 2014 season in which he had an OPS of .634 and was rated as one of the worst fielders in the game.

Entering 2015, there was still hope that the real Brown was closer to the 2013 version than the 2014 one. But we had to wait to find out. Brown suffered an Achilles injury in Spring Training that forced him to miss the first few weeks of the season.

It was expected that he’d rejoin the team after a rehab stint in Clearwater, but the Phillies had other ideas. He didn’t hit well during the rehab assignment, and it was decided that he wasn’t ready to hit against big league pitching. Instead, he was re-routed to Lehigh Valley.

He didn’t do much to force a promotion, and he wasn’t called back up to the majors until mid-June. With the team already well out of contention, Brown was made the starting right fielder to see if the former All-Star could salvage his career.

He didn’t get off to a fast start, batting just .192 with no home runs at the end of June. July didn’t begin much better, and after a five-game stretch where he went 1-14, Brown was benched for the Phillies game against the Rays on July 20.

He was called upon to pinch hit in the seventh inning, and singled. Because this was the 2015 Phillies, he was promptly picked off after that, but the hit did seem to spark something in Brown. He had a two-hit game followed by a three-hit day.

A few days later, he had three hits and was a home run away from the cycle. Home runs had proven hard to come by for Brown (Zero since September 16, 2014), but he closed out the month by hitting one in consecutive games.

Was that a sign that Brown had rediscovered his hitting stroke? Was he on the road back to All-Star status? Or at least a viable starter?

Sadly, no. He batted just .180 in August and then started September by chasing a ball in the outfield, flipping over the wall and suffering a concussion.

Brown was done for the season, and as it turned out, that was the end of his major league career. The Phillies allowed him to become a free agent at season’s end, and although he signed with a couple of other teams, he was never able to make it back to the majors.

Sometimes, baseball players can overcome adversity and go on to have successful second acts of their careers. But despite giving us a brief glimpse of hope in July 2015, Dom Brown was not one of them.