Kingery ‘understands’ demotion, but still impacted by virus

The plan for Scott Kingery in 2020 hinged on stability. Like just about the rest of the world, the Phillies infielder hasn’t found it, either.

So it was Thursday, after two spring training camps, two COVID-19-enforced breaks (one Kingery’s, one the Marlins’) and a .100 average,thatKingery’sholdonthe second baseman’s job was revoked.

He’d still be an everyday player, general manager Matt Klentak said in a rare resurfacing. But only by splitting time with new kid on the hot corner Alec Bohm and in the outfield, where Adam Haseley hit the injured list.

Kingery, to his credit, said he understood, as much as the trajectory of his career is in any way explicable.

“It is frustrating and I think everything’s amplified because there’s no time to figure things out this year,” Kingery said Friday. “It’s a sprint. There’s really no time to waste. So I come in and don’t perform for the first 10 games, things change, and I completely understand that.”

The insanity of Kingery’s two-plus years in the bigs boggles the mind. After scorching Triple-A until the Phillies had to promote him, he was handed a six-year, $24 million contract before his first big league atbat. And then the Phillies’ second baseman of the future has gone on to play … all of 25 games at second base. The 11 starts this season was actually his longest stretch there, after filling a hole at shortstop in 2018 (119 games) and spending most of 2019 in the outfield (69 games).

The thinking in Kingery’s somewhat pedestrian but improving numbers — batting .226 in 2018 and .258 with 19 homers last season — was that he was overloaded on new fielding info. Kingery concurred to a degree, explaining the physical challenges of having to take reps at multiple positions the last two years. And while that’s less of an issue now and he feels more ready for a super-utility role, there’s one more mitigating issue: COVID-19, and what it has or hasn’t done to his body.