Bringing up Scott Kingery won’t help the Phillies this year
By John Town
It’s easy to want the Phillies to call up Scott Kingery to the major-leagues, but doing so won’t help the team this year and may hurt them in the long run.
The hope for the Phillies future is coming from the minors with the major-league team now carrying a paltry 21-40 record. Many players on the team are struggling, and it’s hard not to ignore the players in the minors that are surging.
The newest target for calls for a promotion is second-base prospect Scott Kingery. On Monday morning, 94 WIP Morning show host Angelo Cataldi made his case for bringing Kingery to the majors.
In fact, a Twitter poll done by the station found that out of 1,074 people, 75% of them want the team to promote Kingery to the majors right now.
More from Phillies Prospects
- Prospect Andrew Baker could help Phillies bullpen in 2023
- Phillies manager suggests Andrew Painter could make Opening Day roster
- Phillies No. 1-ranked prospect Andrew Painter receives national accolade
- Phillies top prospect Andrew Painter continues to dominate
- Philadelphia Phillies prospects thriving is a positive sign for the future
Seeing Kingery’s numbers in Double-A, it’s hard not to want to bring him up. He leads all Eastern League players with 200 or more plate appearances in wRC+ (174) and OPS (1.007). Kingery also has an EL-leading 18 home runs and 14 stolen bases to go along with that. He has been all-around the best hitter in the league so far this season.
Starting second baseman Cesar Hernandez is out for some time with an oblique injury.
Cataldi thinks it is time to strike while the iron is hot and promote Kingery. This would mean Kingery would skip over Triple-A Lehigh Valley entirely and jump right to the majors in just his third professional season.
However, calling up Kingery to the majors won’t do him any good. He turned 23 in April and is just two years removed from being selected in the second round of the MLB Draft.
Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle also disagreed with Cataldi, pointing towards the uncertainity of prospects: [quote via CBS Philly]
More from That Balls Outta Here
- Philadelphia Phillies: Most impactful transactions in 2022
- How will Rob Thomson manage the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen in 2023?
- How Phillies’ Ranger Suárez is set to build on 2022 postseason dominance
- What can Philadelphia Phillies expect from Bryson Stott in 2023?
- 3 Reasons to get excited for Phillies’ Craig Kimbrel signing
"“They’re being patient and I agree with that approach,” Drago said on Monday. “Baseball is a tough game, it’s tough to project what guys can do. They make look great at Double-A and then they get to the major leagues and they do nothing. When Domonic Brown was here [Double-A Reading], he was all-world. Michael Taylor was all-world. They looked like can’t miss prospects and you know what happened to them, so.”"
Rushing Kingery to the majors may in fact hurt his development rather than advance it.
Last year when Kingery was promoted from High-A Clearwater to Double-A midseason, he struggled in his first Reading stint. The chance exists that Kingery struggles again upon being promoted. If he does, it’s better that he would struggle in Triple-A away from the spotlight shone on players in Philadelphia.
Next: How to watch the 2017 MLB Draft
Kingery is a very solid prospect and I do think he should be an above-average major-leaguer someday. However, that someday is not as close as we want it to be, and he won’t do the team much good if and when he comes up.