Haseley belongs at top of Phillies’ lineup
PHILADELPHIA » They were mere intrasquad games, never meant to reveal much, played in an empty ballpark. Yet even then, there would be signals. Even then, there would be hints of what Joe Girardi was plotting as options.
It’s what the good managers do, and Girardi is recognized as one of the best. They think one, two, three moves ahead.
So when Girardi used Adam Haseley at the top of one of his two lineups one day, it was interesting. When he did it the next, it was significant. When he did it a third, it was a developing trend. And when Haseley kept hitting, it demanded a question: Is the former 19th overall draft choice, at age 24, a leadoff hitter in the trial phase?
“I’m just trying to get him some more at-bats because he was a little bit behind,” Girardi said at the time, mindful that Haseley was late to report to camp after a clumsy virus-test snafu. “I think our leadoff hitter would probably be Andrew McCutchen during the course of this season.”
McCutchen worked well as a leadoff hitter before ripping his knee in a dive back to first base and requiring seasonending surgery with 102 games still to play last year. Since the Phillies were thriving at the time, then proceeded to fail so spectacularly that Gabe Kapler would be pointed to the exit, a cause-effect theory became popularly accepted. As a former MVP, McCutchen did lend a certain top-of-the-lineup presence. But he was hitting .256, not .356, and had one hit in his final 13 at-bats. So it wasn’t like there was a robust All-Star Game write-in campaign in the works.
Eventually, baseball got around to a 2020 season, and by the time it did, McCutchen was proclaimed recovered from his injury, was reinstalled in left field, and was returned to the top of the order. With Bryce Harper planted in right, that left one regular outfield job available for organization-developed potential stars Haseley and Roman Quinn.
It all seemed reasonable. All that would be required was for McCutchen, at age 33, scar on his knee, five years removed from his last All-Star Game, to show some of the skills that made him looked like a Hall of Fame candidate when he was crushing it early in his career with the Pirates.
Hasn’t happened.
It’s early.
But it hasn’t happened. Through four games, McCutchen has started three, all as the leadoff hitter, and is 1-for-14, with no walks. It would be an enormous stretch to mention that makes him 2-for-his-last-27. So interpret that with appropriate context. But his bat has been slow, as has been his burst out of the batter’s box. So when does Girardi react?
Again: Look for the signs. After just two games, Girardi gave McCutchen a day off. One reason is because Jay Bruce, who replaced McCutchen in left, has outwardly campaigned for some defensive shifts, willing but not fully comfortable to be type-cast as a designated hitter. But with that new lineup, it was Haseley at the top of the order for the first time in his brief, secondyear career.
Girardi’s response when he was caught using Haseley in the leadoff spot during the Intrasquad Festival was appropriately guarded. But it took him just three games to reveal it was not an just initiative to provide Haseley with more atbats. As for that game against the Marlins: Haseley went 4-for-6.
“I think eventually, in time, he could do it (be a leadoff hitter),” the manager said during the summer camp. “He’s a pretty patient hitter.”
The Phillies are squished in last place in the NL East with seven percent of their season already over. How much time do they have, anyway?
In some areas, Girardi must be patient. It’s not his fault that the front office has made him manage a bullpen lousy with virtual amateurs. But as for the lineup, he has options. One would be to start his three best defensive outfielders in Quinn, Haseley and Harper. Through the offseason, lengthy as it was, the Phillies had come to believe their lineup was dangerous, top to bottom and back to the top again, in the endless-loop American League style necessary in the new DH era. The phrase often caroming around the Zoom-a-verse was that the batting order would have great length. With Haseley at the top and Quinn at the bottom, there would be the double-leadoff-hitter ripple effect.
The Phillies have been waiting for years for Quinn, 27, to be an everyday outfielder. It’s his time. And even if Haseley never becomes the player McCutchen once was, he’s younger, faster and a better defender this year, and has the skills to be a heavy contributor for the rest of the decade.
A leader, a veteran, a competitor, McCutchen will remain valuable. He can DH against a tough left-hander. He might be a good pinch-hitter. With Quinn ever challenged to be injury-free, outfield depth will be vital. Should Quinn or Haseley slump down the stretch, Girardi would always have McCutchen as a beenthere-done-that option.
But McCutchen, one of the greats of his era, is closer to a statue unveiling in Pittsburgh than he is to becoming an AllStar on Pattison Ave. So play Quinn. And lead Haseley off. Do what Girardi must have been imagining, back when he was thinking those two or three moves ahead.
Reach Jack at jmccaffery@21stcenturymedia.com and follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery