Kingery ‘understands’ demotion from second
PHILADELPHIA » 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 trainings, two COVID-19-enforced breaks (one Kingery’s, one the Marlins’) and a .100 average, that Kingery’s hold on the second baseman’s job was revoked.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 at-bat. 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
Texas Houston Los Angeles Seattle
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 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
Thursday’s games
Baltimore 11, Philadelphia 4 Tampa Bay 17, Boston 8
St. Louis at Detroit, ppd., 1st game St. Louis at Detroit, ppd., 2nd game
Friday’s games
Baltimore 6, Washington 2, 1st game Tampa Bay at Toronto
Boston at N.Y. Yankees Cleveland at Detroit Washington at Baltimore, 2nd game Kansas City at Minnesota Texas at Colorado
Seattle at Houston
L.A. Dodgers at L.A. Angels
A’s at Giants
Saturday’s games
8 8 7 7 9 10 12 13 .471 .444 .368 .350
4 4 1⁄2
6 6 1⁄2
St. Louis (Hudson 0-1) at Chicago White Sox (Giolito 1-1), 2:10 p.m., 1st game St. Louis (TBD) at Chicago White Sox (TBD), 5:40 p.m., 2nd game Cleveland (Bieber 3-0) at Detroit (Turnbull 2-0), 6:10 p.m.
Tampa Bay (Yarbrough 0-2) at Toronto (Anderson 0-0), 6:37 p.m.
Boston (Eovaldi 1-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Paxton 0-1), 7:07 p.m.
A’s (Luzardo 1-0) at Giants (Gausman 0-1), 7:07 p.m.
Kansas City (Duffy 0-2) at Minnesota (Berrios 1-2), 7:10 p.m.
Seattle (Margevicius 0-0) at Houston (Javier 1-1), 7:10 p.m. Washington (Corbin 2-0) at Baltimore (Wojciechowski 0-2), 7:35 p.m. Texas (Gibson 0-2) at Colorado (Marquez 2-2), 8:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Heaney 1-1), 9:40 p.m.
Sunday’s games
issue: COVID-19, and what it has or hasn’t done to his body.
Manager Joe Girardi Friday declared Kingery healthy to the extent that an IL stint would be infeasible. But when Kingery was offered that diagnosis, he hesitated, then hedged. A back issue and a shoulder issue had mostly cleared up, and he didn’t know to what degree they were attributable to COVID-19, which cost him more than a week of second spring training. But he’s battling through, which isn’t new for the 26-year-old.
“As far as things directly related to COVID, energy level is something that affected me when I had COVID and it’s still, I don’t think, back to completely normal,” he said. “Shortness of breath is getting better day by day. It’s still not back to 100 percent but it’s getting close. But just little things nagging me, I don’t think it’s directly related to COVID, but the way I jumped back into things could’ve played a part, in terms of how I was feeling.”
Wherever and whenever he happens to play, Kingery’s search is for consistency at the plate. He’s not going to get that from his manager, so he’ll have to discover it by other means.
“There’s been stretches of three weeks, two weeks, three series where my swing feels amazing,” Kingery said.
Washington at Baltimore, 1:05 p.m. Cleveland at Detroit, 1:10 p.m. Kansas City at Minnesota, 2:10 p.m. Seattle at Houston, 2:10 p.m.
St. Louis at Chicago White Sox, 2:10 p.m. Tampa Bay at Toronto, 3:07 p.m. Texas at Colorado, 3:10 p.m.
A’s at Giants, 4:05 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at L.A. Angels, 4:10 p.m. Boston at N.Y. Yankees, 7:08 p.m.
Miami Atlanta New York Washington Philadelphia
Chicago St. Louis Cincinnati Milwaukee Pittsburgh
Colorado Los Angeles San Diego Arizona