The two Philadelphia Phillies prospects who get the most attention are Aidan Miller and Andrew Painter, the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked minor leaguers in their farm system.
That attention comes with good reason.
Painter could be the game’s next star pitcher and Miller projects to be an elite infielder in the future whenever he is called up for his Major League debut.
Because of that, it’s easy to forget about the other high-profile prospect in this pipeline; Justin Crawford.
The son of former big league player Carl Crawford was taken 17th overall in the 2022 draft out of high school by the Phillies, and while they expected there to be some growing pains during the early part of his career, that largely hasn’t been the case.
Crawford has a slash line of .316/.371/.442 across his 213 minor league games.
He uses his elite speed to turn grounders into singles and hits to the outfield into doubles or triples.
In his two full professional seasons, he’s had 47 doubles, 12 triples and has driven in 60 plus runs in each campaign, something that is a huge plus for what he can accomplish going forward.
And even though the 21-year-old has only played 40 games of Double-A ball, he’s already knocking on the door to make his Major League debut, something that isn’t expected to come this season, but could change based on how he and the rest of the outfield group performs.
The ceiling is high for Crawford, but the only thing seemingly missing is the power-hitting ability.
He struggles to get the ball in the air, evident by his 60.9% ground ball rate in 2024 that limited the home run potential he had, clearing the fence just nine times.
His speed negates some of the issues that normally comes from players beating the ball into the ground, but if he’s going to be a top outfielder in the Majors, he’s going to have to elevate the ball more often during his career.
Philadelphia is confident he’ll be able to do that, and when he does, they think he has more power potential in his bat than his scouting report suggests.
“I, personally, think as he gets older and gets more mature, that’s going to continue to trend down … People look at Justin as a singles-type hitter — I don’t see that at all. I think this kid’s going to have real power. He’s already shown the ability to drive the ball to the opposite field,” general manager Preston Mattingly said per Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
If that comes true, the sky is the limit for Crawford.