Justin Crawford’s first run in the majors started with all the weight that comes with prospect buzz, and it didn’t take long for the league to smack him around a little. The Phillies expected growing pains after he tore through the minors as a 21-year-old last season, but his first 215 plate appearances told a rough story: a .634 OPS and 73 wRC+ through June 15. At that point, Don Mattingly was practically searching for a reason to sit him whenever a left-hander was on the mound.
That picture has changed in a hurry. Since that June 15 mark, Crawford has hit .302/.341/.385 overall, and the gains have included stronger production against southpaws.
Entering the weekend, he was also getting on base more consistently, running the bases well, and giving the Phillies better defense than he showed earlier in the year. That has turned him into a regular part of the lineup heading into the postseason.
The shift lines up with Derek Hill joining the club after being cast off from the Chicago White Sox, and the two have formed a workable center-field arrangement for Philadelphia. Hill has posted a .770 OPS and 104 wRC+ against left-handed pitching with the Phillies, though his own splits show he’s actually been better versus righties, at .814 OPS and 119 wRC+. Crawford, meanwhile, has been even better against lefties in that same span, hitting .932 with a 157 wRC+.
In other words, Hill’s presence helped the position produce more, even if he didn’t quite fill the exact role the Phillies needed from him.
For anyone who followed Crawford’s climb through the minors, the lefty-on-lefty success isn’t a shock. Last season in Triple-A, he put together a .376/.411/.518 line against pitchers of the same handedness, and his .929 OPS against lefties was 81 points higher than what he did against righties. That’s been part of his profile for a while now.
There are still areas to clean up. He’s not reaching base enough, and his defense has been only average, at best.
But this is still a meaningful step for a rookie who entered the year with huge expectations and now sits at an 83 wRC+. The caution remains, but so does the progress, and that matters for what the Phillies may be able to build around going forward.
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