Phillies Can Address Major Need Promoting Top Prospect to Big Leagues

The Philadelphia Phillies have been playing some great baseball recently.

Riding a seven-game winning streak, they have overtaken the New York Mets for first place in the National League East with a 32-18 record. Since going on a five-game losing streak and falling to the .500 mark, they have been on a torrid pace, going 19-5.

Keeping up that incredible production is going to be challenging given some of the obstacles the team now has to overcome.

Closer Jose Alvarado being suspended for 80 games and the postseason is a massive blow to a bullpen that was already a little bit shaky, with his future now up in the air.

Players are going to need to step up to fill the void, and some help may have to be acquired from outside the organization to address one glaring need.

The bullpen isn’t the only concern for the Phillies, who have a few weaknesses in their lineup that have to be figured out as well.

Arguably, the biggest one is in center field, where Brandon Marsh has struggled to stay healthy and isn’t producing when he is on the field. Johan Rojas isn’t offering much production at the plate either, with an 84 OPS+.

Not afraid to make a splash, Dave Dombrowski could certainly look into trading for Luis Robert Jr. of the Chicago White Sox, someone with upside but also performing well under expectations thus far in 2025.

How Philadelphia Phillies Can Improve Outfield Internally

Instead, Philadelphia should look within its own organization for an answer in center field, where it will find one in the form of top prospect Justin Crawford.

A first-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nev., the Top 100 prospect has performed at every level in the minor leagues and is making a strong case to get a Big League promotion.

He is one of 10 prospects that Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis and Sam Dykstra of MLB.com believe need to be promoted right now.

“The son of four-time All-Star Carl Crawford, Justin has similar hitting ability and speed with less power but the ability to play a fine center field…He's a better all-around player than Johan Rojas and offers more upside than Brandon Marsh, the Phillies' two best options in center,” they wrote.

Through 194 plate appearances in his first taste of Triple-A, Crawford has a .316/.378/.425 slash line with one home run, 10 doubles and three triples with 14 stolen bases. He doesn’t strike out a ton with only 39 punchouts, with his offensive game predicated on making contact.

Even if Philadelphia doesn’t want to hand him an everyday job right away, his defense and speed would be nice additions to the roster as he eases into an expanded role.