We’re just under three weeks until the Philadelphia Phillies wrap up spring training and make their way North for Opening Day on March 27. The few final roster spots remain up in the air, and we know which players are already out of the running after the team made its first round of cuts this week.
It didn’t come as a big surprise when top prospects Aidan Miller (No. 2 in the system) and Justin Crawford (No. 3) were among the first group sent down to minor-league camp earlier this week. Phillies fans, however, would have liked to have seen more of both players as Grapefruit League play continues.
Miller, a 20-year-old shortstop, isn’t in the Phillies’ plans this season — a 2026 debut is much more likely. Speedy center fielder Crawford, 21, while not officially in the team’s plans this season, has a much better shot at making it to the big leagues in 2025, especially when you consider the uncertain state of the outfield.
Rob Thomson has nothing but praise for Phillies No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford
Phillies manager Rob Thomson spoke to the media following the roster cuts, and it sure sounds like he was impressed with both players. But he made a specific point of praising Crawford’s spring performance.
“Their [Miller and Crawford’s] maturity is way beyond their age. So they held their own very well,” Thomson said. “Crawford had a really good spring, he really did. He’s an exciting guy. I know that there’s talk that they want him to get the ball up in the air, but I think he’s fine where he’s at right now.”
Crawford definitely held his own at the plate this spring, appearing in seven games for the Phillies before being sent down to minor-league camp. In 12 plate appearances, he gathered three hits (all singles) and a pair of walks with just one strikeout, leading to a .300 batting average and an impressive .417 on-base percentage. He even showed off his speed with a couple of stolen bases.
It’s obviously a small sample size, but the biggest concern, undoubtedly, for the youngster is his ground ball to fly ball ratio, as Thomson alluded to. His 33.3 percent line drive rate is a good sign, but the lopsided 55.6 percent ground ball rate and 11.1 percent fly ball rate likely let the front office know that the former first-round pick isn’t quite ready.
The Phillies have been working with Crawford to improve his launch angle since he joined the organization. He began making strides last season, reducing his ground ball rate by roughly nine percentage points from 2023 (69.7 percent) to 2024 (60.9 percent). He improved his fly ball rate from 13.7 percent in 2023 to 20.4 percent in 2024. It’s no accident that he hit .313 with an .805 OPS (with a .444 slugging percentage) across two minor league levels last year.
“He’s going to get bigger and stronger, and he does have some pop when everything comes together,” Thomson said. “He’s got a lot of energy, and he can do a lot of things with his speed.”
Crawford owned the hardest-hit ball in the Phillies’ Grapefruit League opener on Feb. 22. The 108.4 mph line drive (that was caught in the outfield) symbolizes his improvement.
“It probably would have gone straight to the shortstop,” Crawford told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki after the game. “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?”
Even if he doesn’t get to an ideal fly ball rate (league average in MLB last season was 38.1 percent) and ground ball rate (MLB average was 42.2 percent), his speed can more than make up for a majority of balls put in play on the ground. As Thomson said, he can do a lot of things with his speed; his 75-grade speed allowed him to swipe 42 bags in 2024 and 47 the season before.
The Phillies say Crawford isn’t expected to come to Philadelphia in 2025. However (and this is the optimist’s take), if he continues his progression and if you squint hard enough, it’s not hard to see a path for Thomson to be writing Crawford’s name into the lineup in the future, perhaps as early as a September call-up.