Phillies' Brown worked on his swing during offseason

CLEARWATER, Fla. - First, Gary Sheffield wanted to watch. Domonic Brown had come to a local hitting academy and asked for Sheffield, who has 22 seasons and 509 home runs to his name. Sheffield had someone tell Brown to come back in a few days so the slugger could be best prepared to tutor, but it didn't take much video for Sheffield to identify what he would change.

So Brown returned and Sheffield asked him to swing away without instructions. As the 24-year-old Brown hacked, Sheffield stood behind the plate. Then he situated himself behind Brown's back. Brown was not using his lanky 6-foot-5 frame to its full advantage, Sheffield decided. He repositioned Brown's hips and made him understand his center of gravity.

"It was just beautiful to watch," Sheffield said.

Brown wanted a winter away from organized baseball to regain his poise, so he moved near the Phillies' complex and sought Sheffield's advice. He comes to camp all but assured of a ticket to triple A, but a confident Brown had his say Tuesday.

"I'm not at peace if I start at triple A," Brown said. "I'm coming to win a job. I'm fighting to win a job here. If I start at triple A, I start at triple A."

It's a decided long shot, but as Ruben Amaro Jr. said early in the week, "Spring is a good time to dream a little bit." The Phillies are more concerned with seeing overall progress in Brown's mentality, defense, and hitting. He can leave a good impression now for a future promotion.

A winter of anonymity has resulted in a restoration of that confidence so tested in 2011. Brown endured a hitless spring, then fractured the hamate bone in his right hand. He was promoted, demoted, and then booed in triple A when he dropped fly balls and looked generally disinterested.

"I had to wake up," Brown said. "You just can't turn the switch off and on like that. You just can't do it in this game. You have to stay upbeat every day."

Part of that discovery led him to Sheffield this winter. A mutual friend made the suggestion, and two or three times a week Brown and Sheffield worked. Sheffield resisted the notion that he altered Brown's technique a great deal. He saw some holes - most noticeably weakness against inside fastballs and backdoor breaking balls - and made suggestions to correct them.

"A lot of people think because I wiggled the bat I couldn't understand someone else's style," Sheffield said.

"He opened his arms to me," said Brown.