Phillies: Five players who disappointed this season

2. J.P. Crawford

Once ranked among the top prospects in baseball, J.P. Crawford has produced at the level of an average utility man with a glove.

Crawford has historically declined at each level of baseball he’s reached but after a couple of months he’d eventually hit his way out of trouble. Unfortunately for him, he’s hasn’t been healthy enough to hit out of trouble.

Philadelphia had such high hopes for Crawford going into 2018 that they traded Freddy Galvis, a perennial Gold Glove candidate, to San Diego. That deal appears to have worked out on all front for Philadelphia with Galvis hitting .236 and the return, Enyel De Los Santos, pitching lights out in Lehigh Valley.

Philadelphia Phillies

Crawford had just one hit in his first 25 plate appearances and hit .188 over 21 games in April. A right forearm strain forced Crawford out of the lineup for the entirety of May, and he returned to find Scott Kingery handling shortstop.

After 13 games hitting .207 Crawford went back on the disabled list with a broken hand that’s kept him out of the Phillies lineup ever since.

He’s been heralded as one of the best prospects to come through the Phillies system in years, but the bat hasn’t matched the production of his glove.

The Phillies infield could be completely revamped this offseason with Manny Machado scheduled to hit free agency. Phillies shortstops have a combined -3.2 WAR, by far the worst in baseball, and hitting .233, the second-worst batting average in baseball.

With only 57 major league games under his belt Crawford certainly hasn’t proved himself to be a bust or anything more than rich-man’s Eric Bruntlett. His trade value any be anywhere near what it was even a year ago, meaning he’s likely back either as the starter or backup at short.