If you own Brown in Fantasy, that's exactly what you want to see.

He obviously wasn't going to maintain his home run pace from May, when he hit 12 in 109 at-bats, but some people worried that when pitchers stopped giving him pitches to hit, his overly aggressive ways would make him easy prey, much like Jeff Francoeur.

But of course, apart from that one month, Brown has never had a shortage of walks at any point in his professional career. It's not that he was being overly aggressive in May. It's just that pitchers kept giving him pitches to hit.

And now that they're not, he's walking again. That's enough to convince me his breakthrough is 100 percent legitimate and that he'll have another big surge or two later this year.

Brown had two minor leauge seasons with 450-plus plate appearances; in both, he stole 20 or more bases. And in his other campaigns, he was on pace to steal at least 25. Brown has pulled a bit of a misdirection on Fantasy players -- while hitting 18 home runs in his first 60 games, he's drawn attention away from the fact that he can hit for average (a .296 minor league batting average) and steal bases. This sets him up with some interesting trade value -- a Brown owner may think he's selling high on the home run potential, but will likely be underrating average and steals. 

It's unlikely you get Brown cheap, thanks to his hot start, but you might be able to get him for fair value if his owner isn't considering the gains Brown will make in the non-power categories. If you're in need of some steals, you may actually have a need for the league's leading home-run hitter. 

Brown has homered 11 times in his last 16 games. He's batting .381 (24 for 63) with two doubles, two triples, 15 runs and 24 RBI in his last 16 games.

Normally, that's where the debate would end for me, but for Brown, it's not that simple. Between his minor-league career and his previous stints in the majors, he had already developed a reputation as a player who knew the strike zone, who would take pitches and draw walks. Why would that end all of a sudden?

Maybe it didn't end. Maybe he just put it on hold to make the most of what pitchers gave him. He was behind in the count on only one of the 12 home runs he hit in May, so you could argue his plate discipline put him in position to hit those home runs. It didn't lead to any walks, but it's not his fault he kept getting pitches to hit.

Of course, now that he's a feared slugger, he won't get as many pitches to hit. Already, he has two walks in June, which is exactly what I hoped to see. As long as his walk rate goes up when he inevitably cools off, I think we can trust that the breakthrough was legitimate.

My collegues on Fantasy Baseball Today offered up trade scenarios involving Brown, but I'm going to stick with him.