Q&A with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long: Crawford, García, Harper and managing platoons

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies lineup will once again feature many familiar faces.

The Phillies are turning over roughly 23% of plate appearances taken from 2025 to 2026. That number is actually significantly up compared to last season, when the Phillies turned over only 7% of their plate appearances from 2024 to 2025.

Outfielders Justin Crawford and Adolis García are the two big additions to the lineup. Crawford will likely become the first Phillies rookie since Bryson Stott in 2022 to make their MLB debut and be in the starting lineup on Opening Day.

Phillies Nation recently sat down with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long to discuss the newer bats in the lineup and some questions surrounding a few returning players.

What’s the plan with Justin Crawford?

Crawford, the organization’s top outfield prospect, will debut with the big league club this season. The team all along has insisted that if Crawford looks like himself this spring, he will make the team.

Crawford has had success at every level of the minor leagues since he was drafted by the Phillies in the first round in 2022. A career .332 hitter in the minor leagues with 145 stolen bases, Crawford is expected to hit at the bottom of the lineup and cause havoc on the bases.

Much has been made about Crawford’s profile as a hitter. He has one of the highest ground ball rates in all of minor league baseball. Many have wondered if more of those ground balls will translate to outs at the major league level.

Long right now believes that the best plan moving forward is to let Crawford play the game his way and make adjustments on the fly if needed.

Q: What are your impressions of Justin Crawford seeing him so far and what do you want him to focus on this spring? 

Long: I’m kind of going to let this new pony, I’m kind of just gonna let him go and do his thing. He’s had a lot of success. I’ve watched a lot of his video. He’s got a unique ability to stay inside the ball, which some of the best hitters that I’ve ever had, Derek Jeter comes to mind right away, they’re just really good at staying inside the ball. That’s what he does. 

He uses bunts to help him, he plays the whole game. What I noticed too is he makes adjustments. If there’s a pitch that’s giving him trouble, I see an immediate adjustment to that pitch. I’m excited to watch him play. I have not seen him play nearly enough. You know, I’ve probably seen four or five games in person. I want to see what he’s all about, but he’s an exciting player. We haven’t had a young impact player like this come in a long time. So I’m excited for him and I’m excited for the Philly fans to see this guy play. 

Q: A lot of people on the outside make a big deal about the ground ball rate and how hard it could be to be a successful major leaguer with that kind of ground ball rate. Do you have any concerns about it? 

Long: No, but just because he’s had so much success everywhere he’s been. I mean, he’s won two batting titles. That’s really hard to do, and he’s only played three years. There’s something about that that’s working. I watched Derek Jeter, who had the highest ground ball rate and a two degree (average) launch angle … 

Q: In the minors?

Long: In his major league career. That’s what Derek’s was. It was 2. There are Hall of Famers that have done that. So why not give this kid a chance and let him play his game. It’s obviously worked for him. If we need to make adjustments as we go along, we will. But right now, I don’t see any need to change anything.

Q: You guys were able to measure launch angle when Jeter was coming up? 

Long: Oh yeah. You can go on TruMedia, and it’ll show what it was. Howie Kendrick’s was 5. So there are guys that have had low launch angles before that have been very, very successful. And I would put Justin Crawford in that group.

What do the Phillies like about Adolis García?

García is their biggest free agent acquisition on the position player side this year. Non-tendered at the start of the offseason, García is looking to bounce back after back-to-back down years with the Texas Rangers.

The Phillies and García have already gone to work in making some adjustments. Long believes that his opposite field power will play at Citizens Bank Park.

Q: With free agents, you’re a big part in the process of who they bring in. What did you see from Adolis García that has intrigued you? And the last couple years have been down from him. When you study the film, what do you see and what kind of improvements can you get out of him? 

Long: So he got really pull-oriented and he was working a lot to the pull side. That might be because of their ballpark. They’re in Texas. It’s not very hitter friendly as far as hitting homers the other way. He might have gotten caught up a little bit in that. 

I see a guy who has already made adjustments. He’s set his bat angle now early. He used to, in the past, his bat angle would kind of go there and then he’d go. Right now, he’s setting it. He looks comfortable with it. He’s a strong, strong guy. I mean, there’s a lot of power in there. I think his strike zone discipline has got to improve. I know it went backwards. In 2023, it was really really good, and that was his best year. We’ll try to emulate more of the 2023 than we will 2024 and 2025, which were a little bit rougher for him. 

But I’m excited to have him. I know the defense is good. I know talking to guys that have played with him, they love him. He’s a great teammate. He’s already fitting in really well with all the guys. So I think it’s a very good pickup for us, and, you know, a middle of the order guy that’s won a World Series. He’s got (a) Gold Glove. So there’s a lot to like about it. 

Q: This is something that I think about and I don’t really understand, the ballpark factors. I know Texas has been super weird. A few years ago, it was a hitter friendly ballpark. Then the last couple years, it’s kind of been suppressed. Do you think that has had something to do with Garcia being down a little bit and what do you make of ballpark factors, specifically the ones that are publicly available? 

Long: Yes, I mean ballparks can affect how guys hit. If you don’t get rewarded for doing something very well when it’s caught, for instance, and it’s hit the other way, you start thinking, ‘I’m not going there anymore, I’m going to try to pull the ball.’ His off-speed production has gone down, and that’s probably because he’s thinking too much to the pull side. So we got to get him back into being comfortable with going to right-center, which in our ballpark, that plays very very well and I’ve told him that. I think another part is he talked about his health, him not being in the condition he’s in right now. He feels like he’s 100% healthy. I think that’s a factor as well.

How to address Bryce Harper’s chasing issues

Much has been made of Harper’s “not elite” season in 2025. The reality is that he is still a great hitter and capable of carrying the lineup in 2026. The key counting statistics, 27 home runs and 75 RBIs, were down from previous years due to him missing a few weeks with a wrist injury.

Harper in 2025 posted the second-highest chase rate of his career at 35.6% It’s a part of his game the Phillies are hoping improves.

Q: Bryce last year, watching him, it was very evident how aggressive he was. Looking at the numbers, the chase rate was going up. You mentioned Garcia, his best year, his chase rate was down. When Bryce was the MVP of the National League, he had a very low chase rate. From your perspective, do you think he has kind of bought into the idea that he needs to improve in this area? And how do you help him? 

Long: I mean, he has to. You can’t survive at a high level unless you rein him in. He’s gotten ultra aggressive, especially with runners in scoring position. In the past, he’s been really really good as far as being disciplined, so I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal. He understands that he can’t survive swinging that much and being that aggressive. He’s got to bring (pitchers) back into the strike zone. Once they do that, his numbers will obviously go up in every category. 

One thing he did really well last year was hit lefties, him and Kyle both did. That’s a big plus and I would hope that that trend continues. There are some things that he needs to get better at, but there are some things that he did really really well. Going into this year, I say, ‘Man, if him and Kyle can do that again.’ I mean, we hit them back to back and 40% of the pitches they saw came from lefties and it didn’t affect them. 

How Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh prepare as platoon bats

Rob Thomson doesn’t want to talk about platoons this early in spring, but Stott and Marsh are both likely to share playing time at their respective positions with a right-handed bat. Otto Kemp could be Marsh’s platoon partner in left. Stott and Edmundo Sosa have split time at second base in recent years. Marsh and Stott are typically only in the lineup when the Phillies face a right-handed starter. Opportunities against lefties are sparse.

The Phillies are not the only team to lean into platoon advantages. There is, however, a dilemma the Phillies have to address when running multiple platoons. The Phillies would love to see Stott and Marsh become “everyday players,” but it’s difficult for either to prove themselves against lefties if they are not getting the opportunities. Then again, Stott and Marsh both posted an OPS below .600 against left-handed pitching in 2025, and the Phillies have two guys in Kemp and Sosa that have significantly better numbers against lefties.

Long in the past has talked about hitters doing separate prep work for righties and lefties. For Stott and Marsh, does it make sense to focus more on being the best platoon hitter they can be or putting in the work to break free from that label?

Q: Guys like Stott and Marsh, they were platooned a lot last year. Rob has said nothing is set in stone this year, but I’m curious, for someone like them who faces a lot of right-handed pitching, when they’re in the cage and doing their work, does it make sense for them to focus more on right-handed pitching and not focus that much on left-handed pitching? Is that too simplistic of a way to look at it? 

Long: It’s a good way to look at it, but we also, we work on that lefty stuff all the time as well, just so they’re prepared and they don’t get blindsided when something happens and they are in the lineup against a lefty that they’re prepared and ready for those guys. 

But most of their at-bats have come against right-handed pitching. If they were on another team and in a different organization, would they probably face lefties more? Probably. But we got guys like (Edmundo) Sosa who just kill lefties. You know, if (Rob Thomson) doesn’t play Sosa and plays Stott, I mean, you’re taking a .900 OPS guys out of your lineup (against lefties). I think that’s part of it as well, which I feel for them, because I want these guys to play against lefties. I want them to feel comfortable against lefties, but if you’re not getting the opportunities or you’re not getting the reps, meaning game reps, it’s hard. And I think both of them struggle with that just a little bit.