The Philadelphia Phillies' No. 3 MLB Pipeline prospect Justin Crawford is expected to make his major league debut in center field just a few short years after being the Phillies' first-round (17th overall) pick in the 2022 Draft. With Crawford hoping to make the Opening Day roster, his offseason work continues to show just how ready he is.
Much like Cole Hamels (another 17th overall prospect for the Phillies who sailed through the minors from 2003 to 2005), Crawford has ascended through four minor league levels in just over two years.
With a .411 on-base percentage and an 18 percent strikeout rate, the 22-year-old outfielder has the potential to be a top-of-the-lineup type bat, similar to a young Jimmy Rollins. However, for the 2026 season, he'll most likely reside in the nine hole when making his debut. In Triple-A, Crawford's slash line was .334/.411/.452, with elite-level speed, having stolen 46 bases with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Phillies prospect Justin Crawford shows he's working on all the right things before spring training
The downside of Crawford's approach at the plate, however, has been a high ground ball rate and a launch angle that have drawn significant criticism from fans and MLB experts alike. Recently, though, Crawford posted a video on his Instagram, shared by Cory Nidoh of Philly Sports Network shared a video on Twitter showing that Crawford has been locked in on improving those areas.
In the clip from Crawford's Instagram story, the young star stands on the left side of the batter's box and mashes the pitch from the machine into the cage's mesh. In the top-left corner of the video, where interest should be piqued, there appears to be a ballpark simulator. The ball Crawford hit, according to the screen, sails over right field at Citizens Bank Park and into the seats above the scoreboard.
Do you hear the bell in center ringing yet? Crawford, who isn't known for his power, has actively been trying to improve on his launch angle. If successful, it would reduce his ground ball rate.
According to Destiny Lugardo of Phillies Nation, when looking ahead to the 2026 season, Crawford's line drive rate jumped from 19 percent to 23 percent in 2025, despite his 60 percent ground ball rate.
It's not the first time, either, that we've seen Crawford working his craft in the cage this winter.
“I really believe that he could have played for us last year at some point,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last month at the Winter Meetings, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
Crawford tried to make a case for himself to be this generation's most memorable September call-up towards the end of 2025. But with how hot Harrison Bader was at the time, mixed with the crowd of Max Kepler, Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh, there was no room in the outfield for Dombrowski's prodigal son just yet.
We know that neither Castellanos nor Kepler will be back in 2026. They accounted for 1,027 of 1,939 plate appearances by Phillies outfielders in 2025, which comes out to just over 50 percent for our stat fans out there.
Whether Crawford plays in left or center has yet to be determined, but it is almost definite that he'll be on the Phillies roster come Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park when they host the Texas Rangers.