CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2014 The kid wearing No. 80 took the first two pitches he saw from the best left-hander in the entire sport. Justin Crawford was just trying to hit something hard. He saw a 96 mph sinker from Tarik Skubal for a strike and did not flinch on a slider down and away for a ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook inside,\u201d Crawford said, \u201cand be ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed. Soon, Crawford will have a new number \u2014 one in the single digits \u2014 and he will be a big-league starting outfielder. It is so close. The Phillies have yet to tell Crawford, 22, that he\u2019s made the team. It is a formality. He knows it. Everyone does.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery excited,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of one of those things where I\u2019m trying to hold it in just a little bit. Because I still have to go out there and play. For sure, definitely when I have some time to myself, it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been dreaming about since I was a little kid. So being this close definitely feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is just the beginning. There is work to do. Crawford guessed right \u2014 Skubal came inside \u2014 and he turned on a changeup down and in. A pitcher\u2019s pitch. Crawford lashed it down the right-field line; it was his second-hardest hit ball all spring. It being a left-on-left matchup, the Detroit Tigers had shaded their right fielder well toward center.<\/p>\n
Crawford had no hesitation. He went from home to third in 11.56 seconds. He had tripled off Skubal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely feels good, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI\u2019ve been feeling comfortable and that I belong. But just being able to do that definitely feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is still a developing player, and the Phillies are conscious of this even as they ask him to play center field and bat ninth on a team with championship aspirations. There will be challenges. Crawford\u2019s swing, dissected by many in baseball, does not look how swings normally look in the majors. He\u2019s hit .277\/.320\/.383 in 50 plate appearances this spring; many have come against big-league-caliber pitching. He\u2019s struck out 10 times with two walks.<\/p>\n
Skubal, the two-time reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, allowed only six extra-base hits to lefty batters last season. Crawford pulling the ball with authority against any lefty is notable, let alone it being Skubal. So that swing was something.<\/p>\n
But Crawford\u2019s spring has not been perfect. He saw Skubal again an inning later and took two fastballs for strikes, then whiffed at a fastball up and in. Another lesson.<\/p>\n
\u201cSkubal went upstairs on him; he got out of the zone a little bit,\u201d Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. \u201cBut he\u2019s controlled his strike zone. His hitability is unbelievable. He knows where that barrel is, and he makes adjustments in a heartbeat. So for a young guy like that, that\u2019s really impressive. Really opens your eyes, you know? And he hung in there on Skubal. Had a couple of good at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n
This, generally, is the optimistic view of Crawford. He has things to learn; the Phillies have accelerated his timeline because he performed at every level of the minor leagues without significant adjustments to a swing that generates groundballs. But he has shown enough aptitude to make it work with what he has. He has not looked overwhelmed this spring.<\/p>\n
Crawford\u2019s locker this spring is the closest to the showers; he\u2019s shared the same area of the clubhouse with the team\u2019s veterans. He has not been shy. Everyone is ready to see what it looks like. His whole life is about to change, beginning Thursday at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel ready,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability\u2019s there,\u201d shortstop Trea Turner said. \u201cHe asks questions. He wants to learn. He wants to get better. The swing\u2019s good. He works hard. So I think it\u2019s just going to be how fast can he adjust? How consistent can he be? But, I mean, it\u2019s everything you want from a guy who\u2019s never really played an out in the big leagues. I\u2019ve been impressed by him. I think the coaches have, too. It speaks to him as a player and a person. So I\u2019m excited for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford knows what the biggest challenge is. This is why the Phillies have played him so much in Grapefruit League games.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, at least at every level, it\u2019s always the pitching,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cYou get up there, especially at the big leagues, it\u2019s getting adjusted to the pitching. Even just this spring, the more at-bats I get, I\u2019ve gotten more comfortable. More confident. I think that it\u2019s just the same thing once the season starts. I\u2019m ready to compete, but I know it is going to be a little bit of an adjustment. If that comes, you know, kind of rolling with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It will come because it comes for every rookie. There will be a slump or adversity. Crawford will be the Phillies\u2019 youngest outfielder to start on Opening Day since Mike Anderson in 1972.<\/p>\n
Until they tell him, Crawford said, he feels like he is fighting for a spot. But the Phillies have made it clear, as early as last November, that Crawford was in their plans. He did not face-plant this spring to alter that timeline.<\/p>\n
So, yeah, he\u2019s been thinking ahead. A team official had asked him earlier this spring about what he might have in mind as a replacement for No. 80. Crawford smiled.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s almost here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have one,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI have a number I\u2019m going with.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2014 The kid wearing No. 80 took the first two pitches he saw from the best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,2365,85],"class_list":["post-554865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}