Why haven’t the Phillies pulled the trigger yet on a Justin Crawford promotion?

PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies badly need better production at the bottom of the lineup. 

Have the Phillies considered promoting Justin Crawford, the outfield prospect batting .325 in Triple-A? Of course. But the more interesting question is why haven’t they done it yet? 

The Phillies, at least for now, are running a platoon in left field with Max Kepler facing right-handed starting pitchers and Weston Wilson against lefties. That is subject to change with the trade deadline 10 days away.

It’s also subject to change because the outfield has not been productive enough. Max Kepler, signed to a one-year deal, is 1-for-his-last 17 and has a .660 OPS. While Brandon Marsh has a .749 OPS since his hitless April, he has cooled down a bit in the month of July, batting .220 with a .582 OPS. Nick Castellanos has a .743 OPS, but his poor defensive metrics have dragged down his value. The Phillies have failed to find suitable platoon partners for both Kepler and Marsh. 

Add in continued struggles from Bryson Stott and an injury to Alec Bohm and the bottom of the order situation is messy. 

There is a spot for Crawford. There’s little stopping the Phillies from adding Crawford to the roster and giving him the starting job in center field and shifting Marsh to left field. They can bench or designate Kepler for assignment. They can option either Johan Rojas or Weston Wilson to the minor leagues. 

But the Phillies haven’t done that yet. Dave Dombrowski explained the club’s thinking behind keeping Crawford in Lehigh Valley as the major league outfield struggles. 

“There’s consideration at times,” Dombrowski said pregame on Monday. “We just haven’t had the right time to do it yet, but he’s a person that’s always in our minds.” 

Dombrowski added that Crawford “needs to play” if he is called up. 

“That’s the main thing,” Dombrowski said. “So we need to just kind of sort out our own situation here and see when he comes up that he’s going to be a guy that’s playing all the time.” 

The Phillies are likely waiting until the deadline to “sort out” the outfield situation. Any of the outfielders, from Kepler to Marsh to even Castellanos, could be dealt to open up a spot for Crawford. Crawford could also be used as a trade chip if the Phillies are looking to aim high at the deadline. The Phillies also might want to avoid bringing up Crawford now only to send him back down again if the team acquires another everyday outfielder at the deadline. 

The Phillies challenged the 21-year-old Crawford when they sent him to Lehigh Valley to begin the season. Through 76 games, Crawford is slashing .325/.406/.424 with two home runs, 29 RBIs and 29 stolen bases. 

It might be enough for a promotion if he is still in the organization after July 31. He could provide contact and speed at the bottom of the lineup, but he is not expected to be a solution to the Phillies’ power struggles. 

“He is a player that is very good, very talented,” Dombrowski said. “Would more development time hurt him? No. I think that’s more of what it comes down to. It’s not only offensively, but defensively playing center field. Stealing bases. Just little nuances. But if we had to bring him up, or we decide to bring him up, it’s not like he can’t contribute by any means, but it really comes down to if he’s going to come here, we need him to be able to play the majority of the time.” 

Dombrowski believes that the Bohm cracked rib, which the Phillies say will sideline him for about a month, doesn’t lead to more urgency to upgrade the lineup via a trade acquisition. 

Most of the improvement on offense has to come from the guys that are already in uniform. 

“It just has to,” Dombrowski said. “It just has to be a situation where you’re not going to go out and do a bunch of trades. You can look to supplement, but some of our guys internally, I think we can hope will do better. I do think having Bryce back in the middle of the lineup, he makes a big difference too.

“But it’s been inconsistent. We need to get more consistent from an offensive perspective.”