It would certainly be an aggressive move
It’s no secret that the Phillies outfield is struggling right now. Despite Nick Castellanos’ hot start to the season, the likes of Brandon Marsh, Max Kepler, and Johan Rojas have all struggled to various degrees. Marsh hasn’t had a hit in over two weeks. He was scheduled to sit for three straight days this week but the team reversed course after a poor performance from Rojas in his start. Kepler seems to be improving though, as he has started to collect some hits and has hit the ball extremely hard but into some bad luck.
Nevertheless, the group’s struggles have started to give more merit to the idea of promoting top outfield prospect Justin Crawford. The 21-year-old outfielder has opened the season to middling results in Triple-A, slashing .250/.304/.328 with 12 strikeouts to 5 walks. His 92.3 average exit velocity is among the best, but it comes with the caveat of an extremely high ground ball rate of 64%. Crawford made a quick cameo in spring training this year and was 3-10 (.300) with two walks, a strikeout, two stolen bases, and four runs scored.
Despite his mediocre start, the team opting him to start Crawford at Lehigh Valley has at least left the door open ever so slightly to a possible mid-season promotion. The Phillies under Dave Dombrowski have shown they are willing to be aggressive with prospects, as they called Rojas up to the Majors straight from Double-A in 2023 and Orion Kerkering went from A-ball to the Majors in the same season. The team is very high on Crawford, as evidenced by their starting him in Triple-A and their reluctance to trade him over the past few deadlines.
So we ask you dear readers. Should the Phillies consider Justin Crawford for their struggling outfield? He still has room to grow and is flawed, but would he be an improvement upon what they have? Or is it better to leave him alone to develop at Triple-A a little bit longer?