Phillies’ Next Promotion Question Surrounds Justin Crawford

For Mick Abel, an injury allowed him to be promoted to the Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation.

For Andrew Painter, the plan has always been for the top pitching prospect to join the rotation sometime this season.

For Justin Crawford, the 2022 first-round pick has played his way into contention for a promotion, perhaps a bit earlier than Philly expected.

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That’s where things get complicated.

Crawford is, in a word, dominating pitching. His slash at Triple-A Lehigh Valley is .335/.409/.442. He should bat better than .300 for the third straight season. He’s a speed merchant like his father, former Major Leaguer Carl Crawford. He likely won’t slug much in the Majors, and yet he’s slugging .442 as a career minor league player.

The noise to promote him is becoming deafening from the Phillies’ fan base. It’s fueled by Max Kepler’s awful season and Brandon Marsh’s slow start. The former is unhappy with a platoon with Otto Kemp in left field and the latter has picked things up in June.

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Phillies fans think there is room for Crawford in the Majors. But what does president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski think?

Well, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber (subscription required) asked Dombrowski this week. He asked the long-time baseball man a simple question — when is the right time to promote a prospect like Crawford?

Dombrowski told Lauber that he really doesn’t have a philosophy for that, beyond how well the player is playing and what the opportunity is in the Majors.

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But Dombrowski did caution that Crawford’s massive success at Lehigh Valley won’t be easily duplicated in the Majors right away.

“There’s no comparison between Triple-A and the big leagues,” Dombrowski said to Lauber. “You can do really well at Triple-A, and I mean, you can just look around, they come to the big leagues and they’re hitting below .200. So, it’s hard.”

The risk is that a player like Crawford won’t have the impact the Phillies would be hoping for in a pennant race. Philadelphia isn’t rebuilding. It is trying to win a World Series. Crawford could help, even with just his glove and his legs — in a small sample size.

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But a Major League promotion coupled with a .200 batting average for, say, two or three months, doesn’t make the Phillies any better.

That’s why Dombrowski has been non-committal about calling Crawford up, even though the outfielder’s bat has been telling the organization all season that he may be ready.  

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