Phils prospect Crawford making progress in journey to big leagues

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- It was just one at-bat at the very beginning of a very long season.

But it signaled progress. Justin Crawford barreled a 92.8 mph fastball up in the zone in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 7-6 Grapefruit League loss against the Tigers in Lakeland. He scorched a line drive to left-center field with a 108.4 mph exit velocity.

It was the hardest-hit ball of the afternoon, but it was caught.

Crawford, 21, smiled on Sunday when asked what he might have done to that pitch just a couple years ago.

“That pitch?” Crawford said prior to singling and scoring in Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Orioles at BayCare Ballpark. “It probably would have gone straight to the shortstop. Yeah, two years ago, back in 2023, that probably would have been the outcome -- a ground ball to the shortstop. Five years from now, 10 years from now, who knows what it’ll look like?”

Crawford is the No. 64 overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Crawford could move fast to the big leagues, although Dombrowski said he is not expecting Crawford to make his MLB debut this year.

Stranger things have happened, though.

“Obviously, that’s really, really cool to hear,” Crawford said of the first part of Dombrowski's comments. “But for me, personally, I just try to control what I can control. That’s showing up every day, doing my routine, making sure I’m ready to go. So by the time the game starts, I’m leaving everything on the field. It’s great to know that they think highly of me, but at the end of the day, I have to do what I have to do. However that plays out, it plays out.”

The Phillies selected Crawford with the 17th overall pick in the 2022 Draft. He showed immediate promise because of his blazing speed, elite defense in center field and ability to put the bat on the ball.

But Crawford is not the same player today. The biggest difference? Just look at him. He weighed 160 pounds when he signed. He says he's up to 195 pounds today.

“I’ve noticed the ball jump off my bat a little more,” Crawford said.

If there has been any concern about Crawford’s game, it has been his propensity to hit the ball on the ground. He hit the ball on the ground 62.5% of the time in 2022 and 69.7% of the time in '23.

That number dropped to 60.9% last season. The big league average was 42.7% in in 2024.

“With his speed, I’m OK with it,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

“I, personally, think as he gets older and gets more mature, that’s going to continue to trend down,” general manager Preston Mattingly said in the fall. “But I would also say he’s a guy whose profile is always going to be … we want more balls on the ground. People look at Justin as a singles-type hitter -- I don’t see that at all. I think this kid’s going to have real power. He’s already shown the ability to drive the ball to the opposite field.

"A lot of his stuff with quality of contact is just a byproduct of him catching the ball so deep. As he learns to catch the ball out front a little bit more, I think he’ll get the ball in the air and on the line more naturally.”

The Phillies saw that on Saturday.

“I’ve just been working to get the head out, catch the ball out front a little more, really, just hitting the ball hard,” Crawford said. “It’s something I’m always working on. Really, all the time I’m trying to hit a line drive through the center-field wall. Just trying to stay up the middle, through the ball and stay in my legs and let the ball travel.”

This is Crawford’s first big league camp, but far from his first time in a big league clubhouse. His father is former All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford.

He is comfortable here.

“Obviously, the first couple days was an adjustment,” he said. “But guys have been very welcoming. Guys like Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos -- they’ve really helped me out and talked to me.”

They could be teammates soon. If not this season, probably next. In the meantime, Crawford will keep working.

“This isn’t something that happens overnight,” he said. “But from Year 1 to Year 2 to Year 3, I feel like I’ve noticed my game evolve, and it gives me the confidence and the grace to go out there and work even harder. Obviously, the goal is to get up here and help this team win a championship. Just doing everything in my power to get here as fast as possible.”