By the time I made it to Banner Island Park, a lot of those guys had been promoted, or in the case of Cahill, Anderson and Leon were no longer even in the country, but still, there was plenty to see. In particular, I wanted to get a look at the Donaldson, Carter and Brown. This post is about Corey Brown, however, so I’m not going to talk anymore about those other guys.
The warm August night that I watched the Ports play, Corey launched two homers and stuck out in his other two at-bats. A pretty good microcosm of his 2008. Last year Corey was one of just two A’s farm hands to swat thirty jacks. Of course, he also struck out 168 times in 565 plate appearances. That’s almost exactly thirty percent of the time, and also good for fourth in all of the Minors.
Corey’s the kind of prospect that nobody knows what to make of. He could be the next Mike Cameron, or he might never make it out of Double-A. Recently, however, I’ve soured quite a bit on Corey, and it doesn’t have a thing to do with that damned long swing of his.
A little while back while doing some research for another piece I stumbled across this little nugget, and by little nugget, I mean, OH MY GOD. You morally reprehensible sick son of a bitch. Half of you didn’t click on the link, and the other half of you will only skim the story so I’ll give you the one sentence summary as per Slusser:
“Three years ago, Brown pleaded no contest to felony battery in a case involving group sex with a 14-year-old girl.”
After reading the story, I feel like I know Corey Brown. He went to my high school. Well, not exactly, but my school definitely had a Corey Brown. I bet yours did too. You might have even heard similar stories, hopefully not as terrible as this one, but similar nonetheless.
When I read this story the first time I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I know Corey was only seventeen when this took place, but this isn’t just the kind of mistake you make once. You either are that guy, or you aren’t. Corey, I’m afraid, is.
So, I’ve got to admit, suddenly I’m a lot less excited about this 23-year-old center field prospect with 30 homer potential. I know there have been a lot of bad guys who’ve played the game. Shit, I’m sure I’ve even rooted for a few. But rape, that’s worse than bad. And after reading this story that’s sure what it sounds like.
I guess what I’m trying to say, is that I won’t be so upset if Corey gets eaten alive by Double-A pitching next year. It’s not like I'll be rooting against the guy, but at the same time, if all the K’s suddenly catch up with him, well, I’ll just shrug.
So what do you think? Am I overreacting? Does this change your opinion of Corey as a prospect and possibly a future Athletic? Did you already know about this? Am I just making a big deal out of, well, a big deal? Please explain below.
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