Promising signs in Phillies Camp

(Bryce Harper on Team USA at the World Baseball Classic/USA Today)

Spring Training games are taking place and although the Phillies faithful fanbase has not been optimistic about this upcoming season of “running it back”, four players are key to the success of the Phillies, and they are proving their worth right now.  Let’s look at Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, Bryson Stott and Bryce Harper. 

(Justin Crawford/Yahoo Sports)

Phillies’ starting centerfielder and rookie Justin Crawford will be the key to the lineup in 2026. He has shown terrific field coverage in the outfield this spring, running down balls in the gap and exhibiting speed on balls where he needs to field them on the run coming in from his starting position. As of this writing, Crawford is slashing .256/.293/.626. — the sort of stats you want to see. He is making contact, but not using enough discernment around the strike zone.  He has also only walked once during spring training. Crawford will make an impact if he gets on base as he has great speed. If he can continue to hit at this same level during the season — Crawford’s projected to hit ninth — he’ll be a great “second leadoff” to be followed up by Trea Turner, Harper and Schwarber. Projection systems from FanGraphs, Steamer, ZiPS and Fangraphs Depth Chart, which is a combination of ZiPS and Steamer, have Crawford’s slash line as .276/.331/383. That line would be welcomed wholeheartedly by the Phillies.

(Andrew Painter/thatballsouttahere.com)

The anticipation of Andrew Painter (Phillies No. 2 prospect) on the mound as a starter has excited the front office, the roster, and fans of the Phillies. His long-awaited move to the big club is happening and if his early performances this spring are any indication, his presence in the rotation will be a huge boost for this Phillies team. Painter’s fastball velocity has been consistent this spring, hitting between 96 and 98 MPH. He has a good mix of pitches including a slider and change up. His first two outings were good, and although he gave up his first home run of the spring during his most recent start, he says he is “happy the way things are going and has a great deal of confidence with each start”. “He’s showing poise and he’s showing that he has the mentality of a big leaguer,” says manager Rob Thomson after Painter’s most recent start against the Baltimore Orioles. More from Thomson: “I think going through the trials and tribulations that he went through last year has helped him. In a way, that might sound funny, but he’s always had success so last year was a way of teaching him that when you have failure, you can come back from it. He’s pitched well.” The hope is that Painter continues to be consistent with mixing in all of his pitches, keeping hitters off balance, and making a huge impact for this Phillies team not just this year but for years to come.

(Bryson Stott/New York Times Images)

Returning for his fifth full year with the Phillies, shortstop Bryson Stott has been hitting extremely well this spring.  As of this writing, Stott’s slash line is .400/.500/.680 with an OPS of 1.180. Can he continue this performance during the regular season? Probably not, but his improvement at the plate is a pleasant surprise. And, with good reason.  According to Ruben Amaro, Jr, on The Phillies Show podcast, he spoke of a conversation he had with hitting coach Kevin Long. Long said that Stott made a small adjustment with his hands and bat position which has resulted in a flatter swing path allowing Stott to be in a better swing pattern. This change became evident during the last two months of last season. On August 1st, his season slash line was .235/.310/.652, compared to his end-of-season slash line of .257/.328/.719.  This trend has continued this spring — a great sign for him and the lineup.

(Bryce Harper/Sports Illustrated)

All Phillies fans and MLB fans know who Bryce Harper is. A superstar player who, when he gets hot, can carry the lineup. His past success carries increased expectations for this Phillies team, and they have not been successful in the postseason for the past four years. Harper carries that burden with him plus the added incentive to be better this season because he was basically called out by the owner, John Middleton, who called him perhaps not the elite player he used to be. That was incentive enough for Harper to post on social media a shirt with the words “not elite” on the front while taking some swings in a batting cage during the offseason. That is all Bryce Harper needs, just a little motivation to get him to his elite status as a major league star in 2026. 

In order to do that, he needs to improve in one major area: his chase rate. Harper was the biggest chaser on the team in 2025 with a regular season rate of 35.5%, and even worse in the post-season at 40%. He acknowledges that he has to improve in this area. As heard on The Phillies Show podcast, MLB reporter Todd Zolecki reported that Harper and hitting coach Kevin Long had a discussion early in spring training where Long told Harper that he needed to focus on pitches in the zone, that he had to do that in order to improve his worth to the lineup. Though Harper has had a very uninspiring spring training at the plate, he did show some improvement in his at-bats during the World Baseball Classic. He did wait on some pitches out of the strikeout zone and his swing looked better in the last two games especially during his at-bats in the last game, hitting a single and a home run. The last eight days of spring training will be interesting to watch, to see if Bryce Harper can cut down on pitches out of the strike zone. Just this little fix will make the Phillies that much better. 

All major league teams look for players that fix and complement each other. Each team has a mix of veteran players and rookies that can become successful if they play their best.  With this mix of veterans Harper and Stott and rookies Painter and Crawford, the Phillies have a good shot to make another deep postseason run.