Career
Kansas City Royals and Breakthrough (2005-2007)
In 2005,Brown emerged as the everyday starting right fielder for the Kansas City Royals. During this breakout year,Brown hit 17 home runs and drove in 86 with a .286 batting average. He led the Major Leagues with 12 outfield errors. [3]
During the 2006 season,Brown batted .287 with 15 home runs and 81 RBI. He was ninth in the American League with 41 doubles. His fielding statistics improved significantly,as he reduced his number of errors to three. Brown also had the fifth best range factor among AL left fielders in 2006 and ranked third in zone runs among right fielders. [4]
On July 30,2007,Brown shot Kansas City reporter Karen Kornacki in the eye with a plastic pellet gun while Kornacki was talking to his Royals teammate Tony Peña Jr. The Royals called it "an accident". [5] "I feel terrible about it," Brown said afterward. "Karen is one of the nicest persons that I've met,especially as far as the media is concerned...I feel absolutely awful about it." [6]
Despite limited playing time during the 2007 season (113 games and 366 at-bats),Brown led the Royals in RBI for the third straight year. He and Carlos Beltrán are the only Royals to have led the team in RBI for three consecutive years. [7] In 2007,Brown had the third most outfield assists in the AL,with eight,but also committed seven errors in left field (tied with Raúl Ibañez for most in the AL). [8]
Oakland Athletics (2008)
On January 11,2008,he signed with the Oakland Athletics. On March 26,2008,Brown hit a 3-run homer in the A's victory over the Red Sox in the second game of the Opening Series at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo,Japan. He appeared in 117 games,hitting .244 with 13 home runs and 59 RBI.
New York Mets and Later Career (2009-2011)
On February 16,2009,Brown signed a minor league deal with the San Diego Padres and was invited to spring training. [9] On May 28,2009,Brown was acquired by the New York Mets and assigned to the Buffalo Bisons. Brown was called up in early June and played in three games,only to be designated for assignment on June 6 to make room for Ryan Church on the Mets' roster. After being sent outright to Buffalo,he was released on July 22,2009.
He played in the Mexican Winter League in the 2010–2011 season. [2]
Player Profile
Although he struggled in limited playing time early in his career,Brown was a more effective hitter in his thirties. From 2005 on,he batted .290 against left-handed pitchers and .260 versus right-handed pitchers. [10] Brown's career on base percentage was .323. Although not a pure power hitter,Brown earned a reputation for driving in runs during his time with the Athletics and Royals. [11] He led the Royals in RBI in each of his three seasons in Kansas City.
Defensively,Brown primarily played corner outfield for the Royals and Athletics,but he had played center field earlier in his career. While Brown had good range and a strong throwing arm,he was known for his unusual fielding errors,with Joe Posnanski writing that "one error for Emil has always felt like three or four for someone else" but that "people tend to think he’s a much worse player than he actually is." [12] He led all major league outfielders in errors with 12 in 2005 and led AL left fielders with 7 errors in 2007. [3] [8] However,Brown was among the league leaders in range factor and zone runs in 2006 and threw out eight base runners in 2007. [4] [8] Hardball Times writer Dave Studeman considered Brown one of the best defensive left fielders of 2007. [13]
Mike Sweeney,Brown's teammate with the Royals and A's,said that Brown had been "mis-read over the years" and is "the most gifted athlete I’ve ever played with". [14]
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