Phillies 2026 Spring Training Discussion

[Austinfan]

You're pretty much saying the same thing, though if you look at hit zoners, few hitters have good results on ANY pitch outside the K-zone. So you should be looking for your pitch (type, location) and spitting on everything else with two strikes, but "your pitch" is generally a strike.

Where hitters sabotage themselves is getting too aggressive and chasing pitches that look good but any study of that hitter shows they don't have success - high FBs above the K-zone for some hitters, inside pitches belt high, etc. Problem is they expand outside their sweet spot and get themselves out.

"A man's got to know his limitations."

[zambonir]

If the pitch looks good, most hitters have already lost. Even the good ones only succeed 25% of the time these days.

[andyb]

Miller dealing with back soreness. I hate to read that with a really young player. Hopefully nothing serious.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/aidan-miller-dealing-with-back-injury-for-phillies?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

[andyb]

Kevin Long interview. Lots about Crawford and Garcia and he even answers some questions for the thread here.

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

[andyb]

Small mention of Lucas Giolito and Zack Littell still being out there in this piece speculating on whether Painter will make the team out of Spring Training. Giolito still seems too expensive (projection was 2//36 though that must be dropping now). Littell had a lesser projection (2/24). Would 1 year at $6-$8 million be possible at this point? Might be good depth from a guy who can eat innings.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/poll-will-both-justin-crawford-andrew-painter-break-camp-with-phillies.htmlhttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/poll-will-both-justin-crawford-andrew-painter-break-camp-with-phillies.html

[Callison]

Detroit - TV abandoned the Phils for the Pads about the 7th. Real nice.

Keller looks ready.

Glad to see Kemp show some power early - looks comfy at 2B, too. Phils' bench has been a weakness but Kemp already looks like he will contribute.

The Phils are committed to Crawford - why not commit to having him leadoff, where he'd have a shot to fill the void at the top of the lineup? The Phils have come a long way with Schwarber leading off and Bohm 4th and might be going back to it, but if Crawford can leadoff, the lineup gets a lot stronger, IMHO - maybe see Schwarber at 4 racking up more RBIs.

Sosa is another player capable all over the IF, maybe the best glove on the team, and feel confident with him at SS. One of the strongest bench players in game.

No signs of life from Garcia.

De La Cruz not in there for some reason? Hoped to see him.

Hard to tell what you're seeing from all the new pitchers - Rob said Mayza pitched well, but he gave up 2 hits. Nobody looked especially strong. Lots of competition for the final pitching roster spots.

[zambonir]

Our leadoff hitter last year won the batting title, I don't think he's hitting anywhere else this year. HItting Crawford lower lets him get on base for Turner and Schwarber and Harper too.

I get it, it's appealing to think he's going to be a star and just let him cook, but the reality-check is he probably would not do well (much as Stott didn't) and he has so much to work on already as both a hitter and a fielder. And then you've hurt his confidence and also wasted a higher number of ABs on him that could have gone to better hitters early in the season. Now, if his season goes so well that his play demands being higher in the order, great.

[andyb]

Though in a couple of years it would be nice if this batting order was actually the best one:

Crawford
Turner
Harper
Miller
Schwarber

Right now our best 3 hitters need to go 1-3 though.

[zambonir]

In a couple of years it will also be nice if Turner and Harper still belong that high! Probably there is another free agent in that mix anyway. They were willing to sign Bichette, and neither Stott nor Marsh are guaranteed to be on the 2028 team. Nor is there an sure thing RF.

[zambonir]

It seems the issue is not line-up protection as simply, Harper (and Schwarber) were left on base far too much. And they had the best OBPs on the team besides Turner so it's not like you can say they weren't willing to just get on and let the rest of the offense take advantage.

https://share.inquirer.com/HBiM1P

One wild stat to prove Bryce Harper and Scott Boras right | David Murphy

Only four players in the majors reached base as many times as Harper did and scored fewer runs. The 72 runs he did score were the fewest of his career in a season with at least 500 plate appearances. Only one player in the majors last year failed to score more than 72 runs while posting an OPS of at least .800 in 580-plus plate appearances. It was Harper. In fact, he was the only player to do it since 2023. That’s not some hocus-pocus bit of cherry-picked math. Fifty-nine players meet our criteria (.800 OPS, 580 PAs). Harper’s 2025 campaign ranked dead last in runs scored.

Last season, Phillies hitters had 366 plate appearances when Harper was on base. That’s not including his home runs. We’re limiting ourselves to the plate appearances when Harper was physically standing on base, hoping for a teammate to drive him home. In those 366 plate appearances, the hitters behind Harper combined for a whopping .227 batting average, .290 on base percentage, and .342 slugging percentage. Of the 180 times he reached base without driving himself in (i.e., without hitting a home run), he ended up crossing home just 45 times.

Just as concerning as Harper in dead last is Schwarber a mere two spots ahead of him. Of the 34 qualified hitters, Schwarber and Harper ranked 32nd and 34th in scoring percentage.

[Callison]

I remember Stott leading off and I was psyched to see it tried and disappointed as Stott himself when it failed.

I am a huge fan of Harper at 3 and Schwarber at 4 and if the Phils could find another top hitter, as they should have, to precede or follow Turner, that lineup just happens.

So I look forward to the ST games when Crawford leads off, even if the starters sit out - gives him an opportunity to try the role. I see all the talk of him down the order, anticipating he will not succeed right away. No sense not being cautious with rook predictions. If Crawford does succeed right away, DD looks shrewd. It could happen.

[VoteForKalas]

The issues are multiple IMO:

Both Schwarber & Harper are #3 hitters..They have very similar skill sets and approach hitting on a similar wavelength.

Turner is not optimal in between those two hitters, but is not patient enough to lead off or have enough power to back them up. He is a player without a place unfortunately here.

Bohm, JT, Casty & Co struggled at driving in runs consistently from the #4-6 holes and are base cloggers when they do happen to get on base themselves.

Rojas, Stott and anyone else has not been able to replace Schwarber at leadoff and struggle at the plate for the most part in any spot in the lineup unfortunately.

[andyb]

Well in terms of Crawford winning ROY and getting us an extra draft pick, clearly he'll have a better shot doing that at leadoff than while batting 9th.

Hopefully he'll get a shot occasionally when starters are rested, though I guess he'll need 50+ games of solid performance in the 9 spot before he'll have a chance at the top of the lineup (and it has to be leadoff given the need to split the left-handed bats. It will also be interesting to see if Rojas wins the last roster spot because that would lead to some platooning with the left-handed Crawford even if Crawford does not have big platoon splits.

[zambonir]

Turner is not optimal in between those two hitters, but is not patient enough to lead off or have enough power to back them up. He is a player without a place unfortunately here.

You just really love Trea Turner huh? Maybe he'd be better hitting second on a team with a true lead-off hitter, but he was our third-best offensive player last year by both OPS+ and OBP, and also led the team in WAR (it's a real credit to Kyle's offense that he was second without having any defensive value). He finished fifth in MVP voting! His place is exactly what it already is, the problem is still the absence of a fourth good hitter, not him (or Bryce).

The other problem of course is all three of the top guys are 32 years old.

[andyb]

Lineup placement matters little. Getting your best hitters at the front of the lineup is much more important than anything else.

There is likely a small advantage if the higher OBP guys who can run are first or second in the lineup as getting on base for the power hitters is important AND to a small degree distracting the pitchers and causing them to throw more fastballs to the power hitters. Last year Schwarber, Harper, and Turner all had an OBP from 355 to 365 and were our 3 best hitters with Turner's speed pushing him correctly to lead off.

The question with our current lineup is whether anyone is better and the answer is really "No". A Marsh/Kemp platoon is potentially as good as Turner, but the fact that it is a platoon should give pause because of pitcher changes in the late innings. And batting 2 lefties in a row is a potential issue for us unless Schwarber continues his domination of them.

Crawford actually DOES have the potential to be that high OBP player that could supplant Turner at the top of the lineup and Miller is a mix of OBP and power. They are not there yet though. Hopefully they will be in a year or two.

[andyb]

Rincon with a HR yesterday has looked pretty good. On the other hand our magic with ex Tampa relievers may have gone away with our assistant GM. Curet throwing less hard with zero command.

[phillychuck]

Rincon has a long history of being offensively challenged. I’m afraid a good week in spring training probably does not signal a rise to prospect status. He is a good glove guy, though.

[andyb]

He did have a hamate injury last year that probably impacted his hitting. He is no longer a good prospect but it is at least nice he is hitting a bit in Spring training. The games are meaningless especially for the veterans, but the prospects are trying and it is better to hit than to not hit.

Rincon's ceiling is probably the Sosa role on the team. He'll need to get his OPS up into the 750 range especially at Reading if he is to have any sort of shot at it in a few years.

Baseball conversation seems pretty dead at the moment other than Crawford since the team is basically running it back and Miller is hurt. Athletic article on Kemp's work in progress defense this morning.

Otto Kemp balances defensive work in Phillies camp: ‘You’ve got to get exposed’

[VoteForKalas]

It is not the lineup placement that is the issue. It is the player mix. Offense work best when hitters complement each other and bring different skills to the table.

We have similar hitters with similar weaknesses and other hitters with not many strengths. We need a better mix of power, patience, speed and contact so we can win games different ways against good pitching.

Right now, pitchers only need to worry about 2 or maybe 3 hitters in our lineup and all 3 of them are vulnerable to the same approach: get ahead of the count, then stay out of the strike zone, get them to chase high or low & away and either walk them (no one will knock them in consistently) or strike them out. For the rest of the hitters, pitchers just let them get themselves out.

[BaseballCat]

What we need is a hitter that has the potential to hit 25 HR that has a good eye for the strike zone, even if the average is low behind Harper. Rhys was that guy, Casty not so much. I am hoping Garcia can be at least that much. Looking forward to Painter pitching on Sunday - wish I could see it.