{"id":490912,"date":"2026-02-26T04:48:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490912\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T04:48:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T04:48:06","slug":"will-justin-crawford-andrew-painter-break-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490912\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter Break Camp?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phillies mostly ran things back over the offseason. They re-signed\u00a0Kyle Schwarber<\/a> and\u00a0J.T. Realmuto<\/a>. Their only notable external acquisitions were Adolis Garc\u00eda<\/a>,\u00a0Brad Keller<\/a> and\u00a0Jonathan Bowlan<\/a>. They let Ranger Su\u00e1rez<\/a> and\u00a0Harrison Bader<\/a> walk while parting ways with Matt Strahm<\/a> and\u00a0Nick Castellanos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s apparent the front office wanted to leave opportunities for two of their most talented young players to break into what is otherwise one of the older core groups in MLB. The door is open for both\u00a0Justin Crawford<\/a> and\u00a0Andrew Painter<\/a> to head north out of Spring Training. The 22-year-old prospects will look to cement their spots in camp.<\/p>\n

Crawford is coming off a fantastic Triple-A season. He hit .334\/.411\/.452 while stealing 46 bases (albeit with 11 times caught). He walked in nearly 12% of his trips to the plate against a lower than average 18% strikeout rate. The lefty hitter only connected on seven home runs because his swing is geared to hit almost everything on the ground. While that caps his power potential, there\u2019s no need to mess with the mechanics of a player who has hit .322 with a .385 on-base percentage in his minor league career.<\/p>\n

Prospect evaluators had varying opinions on Crawford earlier in his minor league days. He was a first-round pick (and the son of a four-time All-Star<\/a>), so he has certainly had his share of acclaim, but the unconventional offensive approach gave some scouts pause. It has played at every minor league stop, raising the confidence level that Crawford can continue to hit against the highest level arms.<\/p>\n

Crawford probably would have made his big league debut late last season if the Phillies hadn\u2019t acquired Bader. He enters Spring Training as the favorite to start in center field on Opening Day, pushing\u00a0Brandon Marsh<\/a> to left field. The Phillies could shield him from left-handed pitching on occasion but are planning for him to be a regular. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to give Crawford an opportunity, you\u2019ve got to give it to him, and that\u2019s where we are,\u201d president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in December<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re going to give him an opportunity and have him play a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia won\u2019t officially make the decision until Opening Day. They\u2019ve had Crawford as the starting center fielder alongside their other regulars in the first few Spring Training contests. He should win the job unless he suffers an injury during exhibition play. If he does or struggles badly enough in Spring Training that they reconsider that plan, they\u2019d probably be looking at\u00a0Johan Rojas<\/a> and Marsh splitting center field work with a rotating group of corner bats in left.<\/p>\n

Painter might have a little more work to do during camp. Zack Wheeler <\/a>won\u2019t be ready<\/a> for the start of the season. That draws Painter into the fifth starter role behind\u00a0Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a>,\u00a0Jes\u00fas Luzardo<\/a>, Aaron Nola<\/a> and\u00a0Taijuan Walker<\/a>. There are a few starters lingering on the free agent market (e.g.\u00a0Lucas Giolito<\/a>,\u00a0Zack Littell<\/a>,\u00a0Max Scherzer<\/a>). It\u2019s early enough in camp that those pitchers could be ready for Opening Day if they sign within the next week or so. The Phillies have monitored the market for rotation depth, so an addition that pushes Painter back to Triple-A Lehigh Valley doesn\u2019t seem out of the question.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s rotation beyond their projected top six arms (Wheeler included) is thin. If they lose anyone else before Wheeler returns from his thoracic outlet procedure, they\u2019d probably be pressed into using a minor league signee like Bryse Wilson<\/a> or\u00a0Tucker Davidson<\/a>. There\u2019s an argument for signing a Littell type and having Painter be their first man up in the event of an injury.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20197\u2033 righty also hasn\u2019t mastered Triple-A competition the way that Crawford did last year. Painter made 22 starts and tossed 106 2\/3 innings but struggled to a 5.40 earned run average with Lehigh Valley. He struck out an above-average 23.4% of opponents while walking just under 10% of batters faced. The stuff was quite good \u2014 a 97 mph average fastball headlining a five-pitch mix \u2014 but he was more susceptible to the home run ball than the Phils probably anticipated. While he remains one of the most talented pitching prospects in the sport, his seeming fast track to the majors was halted by Tommy John surgery that wiped out 2023-24 and last season\u2019s uneven return.<\/p>\n

Crawford and Painter meet the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If the Phillies carry them for a full service year, they could each earn the team an extra draft choice if they play well enough to factor into awards consideration. They\u2019d be on track to hit free agency after the 2031 season if they break camp and perform well enough to remain in the majors permanently. Keeping either player in the minors for a couple weeks would delay that by a year unless they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting.<\/p>\n

Will both players be on the roster when the Phillies welcome Texas to Citizens Bank Park on March 26?<\/p>\n

\t\t\tWill Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter break camp?<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTotal votes: 414\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Thank you for voting!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies mostly ran things back over the offseason. They re-signed\u00a0Kyle Schwarber and\u00a0J.T. Realmuto. Their only notable external…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[214541,222423,363,99],"class_list":["post-490912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-andrew-painter","tag-justin-crawford","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}