How the Phillies will try to keep developing Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter in majors

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Don Mattingly, the Phillies’ bench coach, turned to manager Rob Thomson in the dugout. “You going to bunt here?” Mattingly asked. “I want to see what he does,” Thomson said. Crawford surveyed the infield. The third baseman was way in, on the grass. He saw Ezequiel Tovar, the Colorado Rockies’ shortstop, shifted well to his right in the 5-6 hole. “It’s a thinking man’s game,” Thomson would later say. “And sometimes you have to think on your feet.” Crawford read it right; if he laid down a bunt, the Rockies would have had an easy chance for a force play at third base. So Crawford decided to swing away. When Tovar did not see a bunt, the shortstop raced back toward the middle of the diamond. Crawford fouled off the first pitch. Now, with an 0-1 count, Tovar moved into a traditional double-play setup. He was almost behind the runner at second base. The third baseman, Kyle Karros, moved back onto the dirt. Crawford swung away again. He grounded one right at Tovar, who stepped on second base but made a low throw to first. It should have been a double play. Crawford was lucky. The Phillies scored what was the deciding run later in that inning. Not long after, Thomson found Crawford in the dugout. He wanted to hear what his rookie center fielder was thinking. This is how the Phillies are choosing to treat Crawford and Andrew Painter, two prospects who are the club’s best chance at a meaningful youth infusion since Thomson’s first summer as Phillies interim manager in 2022. Player development must continue in the majors; it’s easier said than done for a veteran Phillies team that has championship expectations. Thomson does not want to hold the youngsters’ hands. It showed in tiny moments during their first big-league road trip. “I love it,” Crawford, 22, said. “Letting me go out there and play. Having to make decisions and read the game for myself. Obviously, it’s easy for them to tell me, ‘Hey, do this.’ But actually letting them see how I’m thinking the game, I think it’s good. And then we’re always talking, too. So whether I make the right decision or the wrong decision, they’re always coming to me and talking to me.” Crawford had erred in Thomson’s mind. “Your game is to move runners, create chaos,” the manager told him. Crawford explained his first read, on the 0-0 pitch. It was accurate. But once Colorado changed its infield alignment, Crawford should have shown bunt at the very least. Maybe Tovar sprints to his right, Crawford pulls back and hits the same grounder to a spot vacated by Tovar. Or, if he lays down a bunt, the chances of a force play at third are slim because of where Tovar was standing on the 0-1 pitch. Crawford did not realize the Rockies had moved between pitches. “He wasn’t locked in on the second pitch,” Thomson said. “That’s definitely something where, moving forward,” Crawford said, “if I see that, I’ll probably try it.” The bases were loaded in the fourth inning Monday night at Oracle Park with one out. Everything was happening fast for Painter, who had surrendered three runs. The Phillies had lefty Tim Mayza throwing in the bullpen. So Thomson, from the dugout, made eye contact with catcher J.T. Realmuto. The manager gestured for Realmuto to go talk to Painter. “I definitely looked over in the dugout to see if Topper was coming out,” Painter said. “I was really hoping I didn’t see him come up to that top step. Because you can’t simulate that stuff. You can’t. The only way you’re going to get better at them is in real time, experiencing them.” Mayza wasn’t ready, but he was close. The Phillies could have stalled even further. Thomson changed his mind. He let Painter face Luis Arraez, a tough lefty hitter. “I just wanted to see how he was going to react to it,” Thomson said. “And he was great.” Arraez hit a deep fly to right. It went 363 feet — deep enough to be a home run at Citizens Bank Park. Instead, Adolis García ran it down. A run-scoring sacrifice fly. There were still two men on base and Matt Chapman, who had singled and tripled in his first two at-bats, was up. Thomson stuck with Painter again. Chapman grounded out. Painter was not at his best, but he was given a chance to work through a jam, and he prevented it from spiraling. The Phillies later authored a comeback win. “I mean, it shows a little bit of trust there,” said Painter, who turns 23 on Friday. “Just being able to handle a little bit of that adversity. It’s tough. I feel like a lot of times, you get some traffic on the bases, and you try to do too much. That’s where I’ve just been trying to stay within myself. … I’m glad they let me finish that fourth.” It’s early in the season, so Thomson is fine being on the lenient side with his rookies. It will depend on the game state and other factors, but the live lessons far outweigh whatever Crawford and Painter can do before a game or after it. That balance could tilt later in the season; Thomson might not have as long a leash or might give more specific instructions. The hope is that by then, Crawford and Painter will have applied new knowledge. That fourth inning Monday might have unfolded the way it did by accident, but it was a happy one for Painter. “Now he comes out of that game probably feeling a little better about himself,” Thomson said. “My goal every day — it can’t happen, it’s almost impossible — is that every guy that leaves this field feels good about himself.” Thomson considers himself a player-development guy; it’s the job he held the longest during his life in baseball. He became a coach in 1988 with the Class-A Lakeland Tigers, and the manager was Johnny Lipon, a 65-year-old Navy veteran from World War II. Thomson watched how Lipon was methodical in building his players’ confidence. It’s influenced Thomson to this day; he employed some of Lipon’s methods with Cristopher Sánchez in 2023, as the Phillies eased the righty into a bigger role. There is a rush to push a player or immediately correct a flaw. Crawford is hitting the ball on the ground at a 78 percent rate, which would be the highest on record for a qualified big-league hitter since at least 2000. It is probably not sustainable for long-term success. The Phillies will let it play out. “Well, I’m not sure I want him to get the ball off the ground … yet,” Thomson said. “I just want him to be himself. He’s going to get stronger and he’s going to make adjustments. But I don’t want anybody to harp on him to get the ball off the ground and change who he is right now. It’ll come naturally.” The Phillies did not have any mandated pregame work Wednesday morning before the final game of the road trip, but Crawford and Painter were the last ones on the field doing individual work with coaches. Both have felt welcomed by an older team that is carrying a huge burden of expectations. And there is an art to incorporating them into it. “I credit them so much for letting me come in and kind of just play my game, be myself,” Crawford said. “You’re never done learning when you get to the big leagues.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.