Sam Donnellon: Phils' Brown determined to win job

CLEARWATER, Fla. - A year ago, it seemed a seamless fit. Jayson Werth had vacated rightfield. Domonic Brown, the Phillies' top position prospect, was a rightfielder. A quick study with a swing likened to Darryl Strawberry's and one of those laser arms that make you beg for a play at the plate, Brown would make the Phillies look smart for not re-signing Werth, maybe even make them better.

Twelve months and 1,200 doubts later, no one's quite sure where Domonic Brown fits, when he fits or even whether he fits. The acquisition of Hunter Pence, the emergence of John Mayberry, the signings of Laynce Nix and Juan Pierre all have created an air of competition to the Phillies this spring, rather than one of entitlement.

There will be no patient waits while a young kid finds his stroke this season. No losses attributed to bad tracking, bad baserunning, learning curves. Last year at this time it was a foregone conclusion that Domonic Brown would figure in the Phillies' plans within months of the start of the season. This year, it seems a foregone conclusion that he will not.

Someone asked him yesterday if he was "at peace" with that.

"No, I'm not at peace if I start in Triple A," he said. "That's where you guys are wrong there. I have come to win a job. That's the goal. If I start in Triple A, I start in Triple A. But I'm here to win a job."

He was standing in a locker room that has become all too familiar this winter. Brown has been down here since December, working with Phillies minor league outfield instructor Steve Henderson some of the time, hitting with retired slugger Gary Sheffield and other major leaguers in batting cages not far from here during others. He and Pence have gotten to know each other a little, too.

He was supposed to be getting away from baseball for a few months, flush the bad vibe of 2011, which began with a broken bone in his right hand and ended with a broken spirit in Lehigh Valley. In between, there were more bad moments than big ones, struggling through a 1-for-16 spring before the injury, struggling to live up to expectations once he returned to the Phillies in May.