Memorial Day is an unofficial marker in the MLB season, and at that stage, all was well for the Philadelphia Phillies.
At 34-19, they owned the best record in the league, having just come off a nine-game winning streak, and enjoyed a 1.5 game lead over the New York Mets in the NL East. The Phillies averaged 4.91 runs per game, which was sixth-highest among all teams.
Philadelphia would win two more games, but then their fortunes turned on a dime.
Beginning with a 9-3 loss in the second game of a May 29 doubleheader, the Phillies lost nine of 10 games. The team did beat Chicago 4-3 on Monday, but now at 38-28 overall, Philadelphia trails the Mets by 4.0 games and is tied with San Francisco for the second wild card spots, just 2.0 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The easiest thing is to say it’s a long season, and things like that,” second baseman Bryson Stott said. “But we know we’re better than what we’ve been playing like, and we need to start doing that.”
A big part of the recent issues has been a sudden decrease in offense. In the nine losses over the latest stretch, the Phillies have scored a total of 22 runs. Remove the 17-7 loss to Milwaukee on May 31, and it becomes 15 runs in eight games, as Philadelphia has dropped to ninth in baseball at 4.57 runs per game.
Justin Crawford Presents Phillies With Internal Option to Boost Offensive Decline
Boosting the offense should be among the team’s primary goals later this summer. In the “News and Notes” section of his June 8 column for USA Today, Bob Nightengale indicated that the Phillies are expected to be one of “the most aggressive teams at the trade deadline,” with center field in particular getting attention.
That should come as little surprise. Johan Rojas (.243/.297/.327 slash line) and Brandon Marsh (.228/.331/.325) have played most of the innings in center field this season, and neither one of them has provided much production, creating a bit of an offensive black hole in the lineup at that spot.
Add in the lack of offense coming from the left field platoon of Weston Wilson (.171/.293/.257) and Max Kepler (.207/.294/.363), and it makes one wonder how Philadelphia has managed to battle for the division lead with such ugly numbers from two outfield positions. No question that the Phillies need to address this glaring shortcoming if they truly hope to realize their World Series goals.
But instead of turning to the trade market in an effort to find a suitable replacement, perhaps the Phillies should take a hard look at an internal option. Because if the ideal outcome at the deadline is the acquisition of a young, dynamic, cost-controlled center fielder with elite speed, gap-to-gap range, and a contact-heavy bat – well, the Phillies already have that player. His name is Justin Crawford.
Justin Crawford Currently Has Second-Highest Batting Average in Triple-A
Philadelphia’s first-round pick (No. 17 overall) in the 2022 draft, Crawford has been tearing it up at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this season. With a slash line of .349/.416/.448, he currently has the second-highest batting average in the International League, and he is also third in stolen bases (23) and fourth in runs scored (43).
The son of legendary MLB speedster Carl Crawford, Philadelphia’s No. 3 prospect has been held out of the lineup over the past few days for precautionary reasons due to a minor quad injury, but Crawford has a hit in seven straight games and 18 of the last 19, with eight multi-hit games over that stretch.
This season, the left-handed batter has punished southpaw pitching, with an incredible .478 average in 46 at bats, while he is hitting .313 against right-handers in 166 at bats. Speaking to reporters earlier this season, Crawford said he is determined to prove that he can be an everyday player.
“I actually think at times I feel more comfortable seeing lefties,” he said. “I know that may sound weird, but yeah, I’m ready to go to work and hit whenever my name is called.”
The lack of power may be of some concern, as Crawford has just 13 home runs in 1,076 minor league at bats. A groundball rate of over 60 percent could also scare off the lovers of analytics in the launch-angle era, but there’s a lot to like about a player who consistently puts the bat on the ball, to the tune of a .322/.380/.443 slash line over 265 games as a professional.
The Phillies sure could use some of that from their outfield. And to get it without having to give away any prospects in a trade, sounds like a win-win.
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