A player’s performance in Spring Training is not necessarily a sign of things to come. A strong performance doesn’t always portend a good season, and a poor performance doesn’t mean the season is lost. However, that doesn’t mean that a player can’t change the early narrative for his season in the spring.
There are plenty candidates for who to watch this spring in Phillies camp. Perhaps none bigger than the big three prospects of Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and Aidan Miller. Crawford and Painter can spark
some excitement and give a better idea of how they will fare with the Phillies this season, as both are expected to travel north with the team and be on the Opening Day roster. Miller isn’t expected to be a factor for the MLB team until later in the season, but perhaps a good showing and a hot start to the Triple-A season can force the issue.
There’s no lack of roster mainstays to keep an eye on either. Bryce Harper is coming off of a down season by his standards and perhaps has a bit of a chip on his shoulder thanks to some comments from Dave Dombrowski. Aaron Nola is coming off of a disaster of a season and will be much more important in the middle of a Phillies rotation that will not have Zack Wheeler at least for the first few weeks of the season. Those two players and others will be participating in the World Baseball Classic however, so they will be absent from camp for a couple weeks starting at the end of February.
But that absence means there’s more opportunities for players like Otto Kemp and even free agent signing Adolis Garcia to impress. The team has talked up Kemp at almost every opportunity this offseason and is clearly high on him. He had a mediocre rookie season and apparently suffered a knee injury that was not revealed until after the year. Kemp will be given the first chance to be Brandon Marsh’s platoon partner in left field. Garcia meanwhile figures to be the Phillies everyday right fielder after they finally move on from Nick Castellanos. Can Garcia provide hope that he has rediscovered some of his 2023 form before he likely slots into the middle of the Phillies batting order on Opening Day?
These are just a few of many interesting player storylines to follow this spring. So, which Phillies player will you be watching the closest this spring?
