The Phillies’ Outfield Could Use Justin Crawford
How much longer until we finally see the speedy outfielder crack the big-league roster in Philadelphia?
The Philadelphia Phillies are doing what the Phillies do. With the help of veteran play, an explosive offense, strong pitching, and solid contributions from anyone Rob Thomson pencils into his lineup card, they find themselves sitting atop the National League East with a five-game lead over the slumping New York Mets.
Trea Turner is having an incredible year, both with the bat and in the field, as he is putting together a career year defensively with +14 OAA. Kyle Schwarber is hitting his majestic bombs that never seem to go any less than 400 feet. Bryce Harper may not be hitting to the MVP-level he’s done in the past, but just his presence in the lineup is enough to make opposing pitchers nervous.
I can go on and on about the rest of the guys, but the biggest hole is something that has haunted them for years.
What is their plan to improve upon the 1.8 fWAR combined between the four players who have occupied the center field position for this team in 2025? Their midseason acquisition, Harrison Bader, is posting a 69 wRC+ since he started to call Philadelphia his new home.
It is not just center field where the Phillies have struggled either. Max Kepler has not done what was expected of him when he signed as a free agent this past winter. Likewise, per most defensive metrics utilized across the leagues, Nick Castellanos ranks easily amongst the league’s worst, not to mention being in the middle of a prolonged slump at the plate.
Lucky for them, their real answer is already in their organization.
Justin Crawford has been a member of the Phillies organization since he was selected 17th overall in the 2022 MLB Draft. If the last name sounds familiar, if you did not know by now, he is the son of former major-leauge speedster, Carl Crawford.
Phillies fans have been clamoring for Crawford to be called up to fix the mess that is currently occupying the center field position for quite some time. Not just that, but for a team that is always seemingly searching for depth on their bench to help them reach the pinnacle, it is hard to believe that someone of Crawford’s pedigree — even with just his speed alone — doesn’t provide value to this team.
Regarding his call-up, it’s not like they don’t have a point in doing so.
In Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Crawford is hitting .333/.414/.441 with only four home runs, but he has 39 stolen bases, a 131 wRC+, and has made significant strides in improving his defense in center field. His manager with the IronPigs, Anthony Contreras, has made it a point of emphasis when he is asked about how Justin Crawford is developing into a future major leaguer:
“I think with center field, he’s just continuing to improve on his first step,” IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras said Sunday. “Obviously, routes and angles and things like that are a constant work in progress, but he’s made strides.”
So, why isn’t he up right now? Many may quickly refer to service time manipulation. Fortunately, we have now passed that point where minor leaguers can now be called up and retain prospect status in 2026. Now that we are looking past that, there is one “issue” the Phillies might want him to fix before they make the call.
Crawford’s Overall Profile
While the batting average is the first thing to stick out to the majority of baseball fans, there is one underlying issue that, while it may not be that much of a problem for someone of Crawford’s profile, could be a cause for concern once he makes the jump to the major leagues.
Crawford is currently hitting the ball on the ground a whopping 60.7% of the time. Even with a contact rate safely above 80%, currently sitting at 84.8%, it will likely be a detriment to his game once he faces the ultimate competition.
While we do have outliers like Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay Rays, who can outrun essentially everything he puts on the ground, Crawford is going to be tasked with driving runners in, as he’s likely to be penciled into the bottom of the order.
However, who is to say that Crawford can’t just be another exception to what everyone deems as a profile that cannot succeed at the next level?
Crawford has done a great job at making sure he has a well-rounded approach at the plate as a whole. That is evident by his righty/lefty splits shown below:
His ability to hit both right and left-handed pitchers at the same mark is a testament to his bat-to-ball skills that he has seemed to have ever since he made his professional debut. Being more selective at the plate has also played a significant role in better results at the plate.
Crawford has seen his SwingingStrike% continue to steadily decline over the past three years. From his high in 2022 of 19.4% to his 7.5% SwStr% now, him being more selective has elevated his contract rate, even with a 48.7% swing rate.
As you could imagine, his walk rate is also rather high, sitting at 11.9%.
His profile as a whole is something that the Phillies have been prototypically searching for over the past couple of years. When you think of the current Phillies lineup, you are going to think of all the power hitters that the lineup comprises.
Even though they currently sit in the top-10 of stolen bases as a team, another speed threat added to the bottom of this lineup, combined with the improvement at the plate, could give the Phillies the jolt they need to catapult themselves above the rest of the National League, and potentially back into the World Series.
Is He Really the Answer?
Buying this much into a prospect is always risky. Even more so when you throw into consideration that he is not normally mentioned amongst the top of prospect ranks across the industry. Just for more context, he didn’t crack Aram’s recent update to the Top 100 Prospects List he released just a few weeks ago.
If you were to look at the Phillies’ top prospects specifically, he entered the season ranked as the No. 5 prospect in the organization.
Aside from all of that, there’s reason to believe that Crawford is truly going to be the center fielder of the future for the Phillies.
When people talk about Dave Dombrowski, they usually reference the level of aggression with which he goes about his business as the general manager, something that has followed him from when he started in the Florida Marlins’ organization. Yes, the FLORIDA Marlins.
We have continued to see the Phillies involved in countless trade rumors surrounding controllable center fielders around the league. From the year-over-year clamoring for Luis Robert to be a member of the Phillies, the newly rumored Byron Buxton around the time of the deadline, and the long-shot hope to bring Mike Trout back to his home of Philadelphia, there has been no shortage of requests for Dombrowki when it comes to finding an answer to that hole.
While Dombrowski is no stranger to trading his top prospects for established major-league players, he has refuted all reports of including Crawford in a deal, which is very unlike him. This gives me reason to believe that Crawford truly is the answer.
We are a long ways away from the days of Shane Victorino manning the position for this team on a year-to-year basis. It has been a revolving door of players like Ben Revere, Odubel Herrera, and Roman Quinn to be penciled into the position on a nightly basis.
Here me out. A late-game outfield comprised of Justin Crawford in left (for now), Harrison Bader in center, and Brandon Marsh in right is going to end a lot of ball games with the Phillies on top.
With all that has gone into the development of Crawford, the major-league pedigree he has been a part of as a child, and the reluctance to be involved in a trade, there is reason to believe that he will be up sooner rather than later and will be the starting center fielder for the Phillies in 2026.
All stats were taken prior to play on August 18.
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Cristian has been at Just Baseball since 2021, when he first started writing about prospects. He spent eight years working in Major League Baseball with the…