Crazy Crabbers Top 20 Prospects: Gary Brown

Gary Brown is the Giants consensus number one prospect and likely the only one that will be included among the top 100 in all of baseball now that Zack Wheeler is no longer in the system.

Luckily for the Giants he is very good.

Brown put up some gaudy numbers in the California League hitting .336/ .407/ .519 with 53 stolen bases. He has premium speed and great defense that should make him an asset in centerfield. His speed (a true 80 according to Baseball America on the 20-80 scale) and defense should get him to the majors with his ceiling determined by how much he is able to hit.

The question about him coming out of the draft was his patience at the plate which at times still crops up but last season he managed a walk rate of over 7 percent and had a knack for attracting balls to hit him which pushed his OBP over .400.

The big test for Brown will be what happens this coming season with the promotion to double-A Richmond, if he maintains the gap power and the high OBP he should be in line for a shot at the starting center field job as early as 2013.

 

Season	Team	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB%	K%	ISO	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+
2010	Giants (R)	6	27	0	6	0	2	14.8 %	18.5 %	.045	.235	.182	.333	.227	.311	91
2010	Giants (A-)	6	27	0	2	2	0	7.4 %	25.9 %	.091	.188	.136	.259	.227	.225	34
2011	Giants (A+)	131	638	14	115	80	53	7.2 %	12.1 %	.182	.369	.336	.407	.519	.411	140

Best Tool: Brown was rated as both the fastest and the best base runner in the California League last season. His speed and athleticism are rare and are what the rest of his game is built upon. 

Needs to work on: Brown at times can be overly aggressive, that is fine when he hitting over .300 but at higher levels he will need to work on working counts and using the whole field. He has shown the ability to make these adjustments in the past but it will become even more important as the talent level of the pitchers he faces goes up.

Ceiling: I am pretty high on Brown, I think that he has shown the tools to potentially be an All-Star level talent. He is able to keep his contact rates high while maintaining his on base skills and his gap power continues to develop it isn’t too farfetched to see him producing seasons of 5+ WAR for the Giants.

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