NL East favorite Philadelphia Phillies break spring camp

The Philadelphia Phillies broke spring training camp Monday for two days of travel and prep for the visiting Atlanta Braves Thursday afternoon.

By the next to last or last spring training game, many MLB teams finally put a team of starters out on the field. Hey, why not? The starters are going to have to play together most days thereafter; a manager might want to see what his real team looks like as well before it counts. Thus, in their last spring training game, the Philadelphia Phillies trotted out the for-real 2019 squad against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The new guys – the All-Stars and former MVPs – were all clustered at the top of the batting order, with the holdovers, including slugger Rhys Hoskins, starting his second full season, more or less bringing up the rear.

Except that Thursday’s starter in the Phillies opener against Atlanta will be Aaron Nola instead of Jake Arrieta, the likely Phillies lineup for quite a lot of the coming season will be what it was Mar. 25, and very possibly in this order: Andrew McCutchen, Jean Segura, Bryce Harper, Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, Odubel Herrera, Cesar Hernandez, and Maikel Franco.

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This is the team that has been picked by many to win at least the NL East, including a majority of Call to the Pen writers, and, well, especially those who cover the Phillies regularly. For example, Corey Seidman, a serious and capable Phillies observer for NBC Sports Philly, tweeted that the Fightin’s will win the division with a 92-70 record, but allowed (with a note of levity for him) that his complete divisional predictions are “sure-to-be-inaccurate.”

That’s fine, Corey, as long as the first place part isn’t.

The final game against the Rays provided a number of encouraging signs, and a couple of minor concerns or reminders of concerns.

The first of those reminders came with a double Harper absolutely blasted into the left-center gap in the first inning. He did that, however, against a standard three outfielder alignment. Many expect the left-handed bomber to see four outfielders this season. How will he handle that if it comes to pass with regularity? Will he adjust with some line shots to left?

Only in the age of analytics can a line double cause a baseball fan to chew his fingernails for the guy who hit it.

For the most part, though, the signs were quite positive for the Philadelphia Phillies starters, a passed ball by Realmuto and a crushed Kevin Kiermaier home run off Arrieta notwithstanding. Arrieta lasted six innings, picking up his eighth strikeout on his 86th pitch and throwing a healthy percentage of his pitches for strikes. His cutter (or is that a slider?) showed good late movement.

Franco clobbered a homer to left. Segura beat out an infield single, and Hoskins returned to action after a minor shoulder injury – he slammed a liner to center that actually turned Kiermaier around before he made the catch.

After the regulars started to disappear mid-game with the score tied 2-2, Hoskins was interviewed and asked whether he was “100 percent.” His answer: “Yeah, I’m ready to go.”

Are the Phillies as a group ready to go, though? Wouldn’t a left-handed starter – stop me if you’ve heard this one before – help?

For the day that was forgotten. The game even provided an omen of sorts – a walk-off, opposite-field homer by Philadelphia Phillies prospect Malvin Matos. Following the 3-2 win, the young, Single-A player was doused with Gatorade on a major league field, something he’ll likely be telling people about in 2059.

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The Braves come to Philadelphia Thursday afternoon. I’m not really sure where Matos will be going, but he’ll surely be in a good mood on his journey there.

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