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1 hour ago
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Justin Crawford may still have a very bright MLB future ahead of him for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Right now, though, he's been anything but helpful to the Phillies' chances of winning baseball games.
Just on the surface level: Crawford is 1 for his last 26 at the plate.
That has lowered his season OPS to .650, and he's hitting groundballs at a rate that leads MLB. While you want fast guys to hit the ball on the ground, it's nearly impossible to do damage when you do it so often.
Justin Crawford is in the midst of a 1-for-26 stretch. His OPS is now down to .650
His groundball rate sits at 62.9%. He's the only qualified hitter above 59% in MLB
There are only seven other hitters since 2016 to qualify with GB Rates above 60%
2021 Raimel Tapia (75 wRC+)…
Crawford is fast, with a 98th-percentile sprint speed, so that's an element he brings to the game that others don't.
Despite that, though, he actually has a below average "Baserunning Run Value" by Baseball Savant, in the 36th percentile.
And his defense is even worse in centerfield. He gets terrible jumps, which have contributed to him having just a 13th-percentile "Range" rating on Baseball Savant -- with a negative-2 Outs Above Average statistic.
Even if some of those words don't mean something specific to you, the point is this: Crawford hasn't been good enough.
He's not hitting the ball hard (20th percentile exit velocity) or in the air. He's not catching the ball. He's not taking the extra bases his speed should dictate he'd take.
Philadelphia trusted Crawford with the Opening Day gig in centerfield, and they're approaching the point where they have to decide how much they still trust him to take a step forward.
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