Fast-Rising Phillies Prospect Performing Exceptionally Well in First Triple-A Games

The Philadelphia Phillies have multiple highly valued prospects coming up through their farm system, and one of the best is proving his value early in Triple-A.

Jeremy Trottier | Apr 5, 2025

Feb 25, 2025; Port Charlotte, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Justin Crawford (80) runs home to score against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fourth inning at Charlotte Sports Park. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a strong start in 2025, posting a 5-1 record through six games and standing atop the National League East for the time being.

Their veteran talent has been the key to success so far, as they continue to chase down a deep postseason run once again this year.

With the Major League roster heavily backed up with veteran pieces, their prospects have not had as much of an opportunity to get on the team, so there is a surplus of talent on the farm.

The Triple-A roster is even more loaded, with six of their top 30 prospects currently in Lehigh Valley, not including Andrew Painter, who has the talent to have started there, but is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery with hi MLB debut expected to come later this season.

One of the other top prospects in the system is outfielder Justin Crawford, the No. 3-ranked prospect in the Phillies' pipeline, and a former first-round pick from the 2022 MLB draft.

He has become one of the key players to watch in recent months, as he has rapidly improved his standing within the organization and is growing ever closer to his MLB debut with the way he is playing.

During spring training, he showed some signs of elite talent, slashing .364/.462/.364 with four runs, two stolen bases, two walks and one strikeout across 13 plate appearances.

While this was enough to earn him a roster spot, it was too soon for that anyways since he would have had to skip the Triple-A level entirely.

Instead, he has worked hard in Lehigh Valley to produce, and his work has paid off.

In six games so far, he is slashing .304/.360/.391 with four runs, one RBI, three stolen bases and two walks with no strikeouts. He has been somewhat inconsistent in the field, however, with 13 putouts and two errors in 33 innings which is good for a .867 fielding rate.

His time in left field has been better with no errors and four putouts, but that is only 16 innings worth of work.

Overall, he has been a great offensive weapon at essentially every level of the minor leagues, but his defense is still coming together as he goes along.

If he can improve on that, it is hard to think he will be held out of the MLB lineup much longer.

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