Cozens struggling to get into the Triple-A swing
ALLENTOWN >> The fastballs were coming in straight and they were being hit hard, and for a moment recently, Dusty Wathan thought the worst might be behind for Dylan Cozens.
“He had a great game,” said Wathan, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs manager. And then? “And then, he got what I would say, ‘Triple-A’d’ by a veteran catcher.”
Cozens is the Pigs’ left-fielder, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound long-ball hitter, emphasis on long. That was him last summer, going for 40 home runs and 125 RBIs for Reading and winning a Paul Owens Award as one of the Phillies’ most valued prospects. That was his name in late-season conversation around the office of Pete Mackanin, desperate then, desperate still for a consistent, mid-lineup power threat. That was him in the offseason, being promoted to Class AAA, with Phillies’ player-development director Joe Jordan predicting he would become a .280, major-league hitter.
That was him, looking forward to the challenge … and to the Phillies’ future.
“Get ready,” he would say, “because we’re going to be good.”
That’s not how it has happened this season, early as it is. Instead, Cozens lugged a .136 average into a game Tuesday against visiting Scranton/WilkesBarre, with 40 strikeouts in 81 at-bats. He had four home runs, including one that sailed over the roof of a Coca-Cola Park bar beyond the right-field fence. But the one-step minorleague climb, for him, has provided little reason to offer a toast.
“I definitely feel that I’ve struggled,” Cozens was saying, in a quiet clubhouse Tuesday, in between a vigorous workout in the weight room and a windy batting practice. “But it is early. It’s something to learn from, I guess. Everybody struggles. And I’d like to try to learn from it as best I can.”
He won’t turn 23 until the end of the month, and he is going to have his chances. So say those 40 home runs last season. So says his status as a secondround draft choice in 2012. So says Wathan, and he is the one who scribbles out the lineup card.
“What do you want me to do,” the manager said, “put him on the bench?”
Wathan doesn’t want to do that, and he won’t. He barely budges Cozens out of the cleanup spot, no matter how many groans he hears when the lefthanded hitter waves at a curve ball for Strike 3. It’s why Cozens is here, why Jordan has said, “We’ll see what he does at Triple A.”
So the Pigs will see it in May, and in June, and in July. They just hope to see some improvement. But the highest of minorleague levels is stashed with players who have been in the big-leagues and expect to be back. That makes them older, wiser, nastier opponents. And that was Bryan Holaday catching for Toledo recently, using every inning of his 152 games of majorleague experience to slow Cozens’ progress with tantalizing pitch calls.
“That’s one of the reasons why this is such an important level for a hitter,” Wathan said. “It’s the catching, not only the pitching.”
Cozens has had some moments, including a grand slam against Columbus and a home run in Toledo that had dropped jaws for its length.
“He can hit them a long way,” Wathan said. “We’ve just got to get him to hit them more.”
That could happen. But if the Phils weren’t expecting it by now, they at least had that on their informal agenda. As Jordan said, “He has the ability to change a scoreboard in a hurry.” Cozens, however, insists that did not put him on an unrealistic development schedule.
“I don’t feel any pressure at all,” he said. “I want to be ready. If I get the opportunity and I am lucky enough to get called up there, I want to be ready. That’s part of being down here and I want to just continue as a player, to be an all-around player.
“Whenever I get that call, I will be extremely I know that. The Phillies will do a good job. And if they decide to call me up, it will be at the right time.”
Cozens has had 24 Class AAA games, not 50, not excited. 80, not multiple seasons’ worth. But he did strike out 186 times last season at Reading, suggesting that he will be an all-or-nothing show at any level, either rattling baseballs into the deepest ballpark seats or turning slowly to take one in the dugout.
“It’s tough,” Wathan said. “For where he is right now, he is handling it well. It’s a difficult situation. He doesn’t want to fail. I think his biggest thing is that he doesn’t want to let his teammates down. He feels like he is letting his teammates down.
“He wants to win games, and I think that’s a good attitude to have. He’s not selfish in that way in that, ‘OK, I’m not hitting and I’m going to be depressed.’ He’s more upset that he can’t help the team win when he is striking out. I think that’s a good thing to see.”
And Wathan will make sure to see more.
“He’s going to play every day,” he said. “That’s why we’re here. We can lose the rest of the games the whole season, and if these guys get better and we end up with a couple extra wins in Philly, I am good with that.”
Cozens is thankful that patience.
“I just want to go out and have better at-bats,” he said. “I have been late on some fastballs and missing pitches that I should be hitting.
“But I just try not to force anything.”
If it happens, it happens. Only then will Dusty Wathan, and plenty others, know that the worst truly is behind. for