For openers, visions of excellence for Kingery
Rookie key to Phillies’ future
NEW YORK » Every one of them has made the walk, the one Scott Kingery keeps imagining. There was Jim Thome and Chase Utley, Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard, Charlie Manuel and Jimmy Rollins, every Phillie since Citizens Bank Park opened. Even Brock Stassi.
“I have seen pictures and videos from previous Opening Days,” Kingery was saying, in the Phillies’ CitiField clubhouse, a long, long, long trip finally ready to turn for home. “They kind of walk in from center field, and I think that looks like a really, really special moment.
“So I am really looking forward to that and getting out and playing in front of the home fans.”
He said it, and he meant it, such being the blessing of being 23 and a rookie, that anticipation of all the fun of baseball. So that will be him Thursday, in his first Phillies parade, hoping there someday might be one of another kind. If the Phillies, who would not escape their season-opening road trip with a winning record or many newly energized fans, had any idea of business analytics, they would let him lead the march. Special moment. Special player. The Phillies have a few things to sell, even if it didn’t show much through a blah spring training, a comically unfortunate series in Atlanta, and a wet visit to New York. They have Rhys Hoskins, still dripping in popularity from the second half of last season, when he clubbed home runs more frequently than any rookie in baseball history. And they reached deep into John Middleton’s wallet to buy Carlos Santana and Jake Arrieta. But their continuing search for their next, great nucleus, the one they have been promising for about five years, finally has a face. And it’s Kingery, the infielder who trampolined to the top of the prospect list with three seasons of minorleague excellence, then a Grapefruit League outburst so productive that the Phillies gave him a sixyear, $24 million contract. That spring-training stat line: .411, four doubles, five home runs in 22 games, with a league-leading 44 total bases.
Chase Utley, as Harry Kalas once said, was the man.
Scott Kingery, it is said, can play at that level.
“Obviously, he is off to a pretty good start,” Gabe Kapler said. “He’s a pretty dynamic individual, and we want to get him into the games as much as possible.”
With Kapler, any such plan comes with the threat of making it complicated. So it has been for Kingery, who had appeared in three of the Phillies’ first four games, yet not once at second base, his most comfortable position. He played third. And short. And in left field. And he played the standard clubhouse game, too, insisting it didn’t matter.
“For me, as long as I can get in the lineup, I am happy to play wherever,” Kingery said. “I think I do have a little more experience at third base than at shortstop. Obviously, I have the most experience at second base. But I played games at third base last year at the end of the season, so I have a little more experience there than at shortstop.”
Kapler has been committed to Cesar Hernandez, and the second baseman brought a .294 average to work Wednesday. Eventually, the Phils hope he brings something in trade, opening the spot for Kingery. They will probably insist on it, too, no matter how much Kapler might prefer to move things around.
Despite hitting .308, Kingery did not start Wednesday, so he would arrive for his fist home opener having had two doubles in a game in Atlanta, that new millionaire status and the expectations of a fan base looking for something to cheer about after Doug Pederson delivers the ceremonial first pitch.
“From the time I signed the deal and found out I was on the Opening Day roster, through my debut, it was crazy,” Kingery said. “My mind was spinning. I didn’t get a ton of sleep. Before my debut, I was super-anxious to get out there.”
Kingery has yet to find a Philadelphia-area home, leaving that detail to his agent. Until then, he will camp at Rhys Hoskins’ place.
“There will be a lot of stuff to take care of,” he said. “So for a couple days there, it is going to be a little bit crazy. But it’s something I have to figure out and get used to.”
He’ll have six years to take care of real estate, and not just in the infield. But he will have just one chance to be among the most popular Phillies in the only first-time home-opener in his career.
“I got some jitters out of the way,” he said. “There are still some, obviously. But it all just goes back to playing baseball and having fun again.”
That march is just beginning.