Phillies: A return to starting Adam Haseley in centerfield?

The Philadelphia Phillies financial losses in 2020 could lead to an opportunity for Adam Haseley in 2021.

Some Philadelphia Phillies fans have suspected for a number of weeks that their team may well do very little this off-season in terms of player acquisition to improve their club substantially. It is a wide-spread belief among them that the All-Star catcher from the past two seasons is long-gone, and that the team MVP shortstop is as well.

Even the mainstream media, which usually comes to such conclusions later than some other sports sources, are starting to embrace the theory that the Phillies need to find “internal” solutions to their “problem.”

Scott Lauber of Inquirer.com, for example, just decided that two important pieces in that regard might be Scott Kingery and Adam Haseley. Both are under contract for a while yet, and both have been considered “promising.” Some observers of the Phillies who grasp at straws might also suggest Vince Velasquez.

Velasquez, a right-hander of raw talent squared and six disappointing MLB seasons, was recently re-signed apparently because of the decade-long, weak back end of the Phillies rotation.

Kingery, who seemed to be seriously weakened and thrown off his stride by a COVID-19 infection this past year, might turn out to be a player who finally produces. As Lauber points out, however, his swing has become too long.

But with the suggestion of Haseley, Lauber appears to be right on the proverbial money.

In 2020, Haseley basically platooned with Roman Quinn, perhaps the fastest player in MLB. However, manager Joe Girardi seemed to prefer Quinn slightly more, giving him 30 starts to Haseley’s 23. Lauber sees that situation as neither player emerging as the starter – he imagines Girardi was looking for one to “[get] hot enough to wrest playing time from the other (neither ever did).”

What happened here? Last winter, now-demoted GM Matt Klentak said, “I expect that Adam Haseley is going to be our starting centerfielder.” And Haseley actually had a solid rookie campaign in 2019, batting .266, and making a couple of stellar outfield plays while committing only one error in 131 chances (.992), which were scattered across all three outfield positions.

Lauber notes that the Phillies had to sit the second-year player down for a few days during summer training camp because of lost test results for COVID, and that the left-handed hitter does hit considerably more ground balls than the average MLB player. Oh, and like most hitters, Haseley has trouble with good breaking balls.

Also, as indicated, Quinn is very, very fast – Girardi likely saw him as the team’s only true base stealer – and Quinn is a switch hitter.

However, Haseley still hit .278 to Quinn’s .213 in ‘20 and drove in almost twice as many runs with exactly one less hit than Quinn. The speedster scored exactly twice as many runs.

Hmm. What to do, what to do…?

Last winter Phillies management designated Haseley the expected-to-be centerfielder. This year they need to give him the job to lose.

There are two reasons for this.

One is the most prominent fan of Haseley: Hall of Famer and part-time Phillies broadcaster Mike Schmidt. He recognizes that Haseley’s downward bat-path is similar to his own in his playing days.

Schmidt scoffs at the notion of launch angles. He figures that a player like himself or Haseley simply has to learn to hit the bottom of the pitch, just below the ball’s imaginary equator. He has brought this up on Phillies broadcasts more than once.

Phillies hitting coach Joe Dillon has further thoughts on bat plane for Haseley that may or may not be correct.

The other reason Haseley should get the centerfield nod is that since Roman Quinn debuted in 2016, he has been an injury factory. In five MLB years (or four-plus, including the COVID season), he has accumulated only 2.088 years of service time.

One more time: It’s time for the Phillies to give Adam Haseley a good shot at being the everyday centerfielder.