Are J.P. Crawford’s Numbers Now a Concern For Phillies?

J.P. Crawford. (Kevin Pataky/MiLB.com)

J.P. Crawford is far and away the Philadelphia Phillies best prospect. His tools and upside have him pegged to be a star when he hits the majors and the Phillies front office has been extremely pleased with what they have seen from the young shortstop.

Although it is important to look at a players upside when scouting, it is hard to dismiss the stat line completely. In other words, a player may have all the potential in the world, but if he can’t put it all together the stats will show it.

This brings us to the, somewhat concerning, stats for J.P. in Triple-A. In 87 games with Lehigh Valley, Crawford only managed a .244 batting average. While he got hot later on in the season, it is still a bit alarming that his average was so low. Going back even further, he wasn’t exactly hitting very well in Double-A either. With the Reading Phillies, he only batted .265 in 36 games this season.

On top of that, Crawford was also projected to develop more power, as he got older. So far, that has not been the case. In four minor league seasons, Crawford has only hit 25 total home runs and even that number is somewhat skewed seeing as he had a season where he hit 11. The 11 home run season earlier in his career and he hasn’t shown that type of power since. Instead of slowly increasing, his power has somewhat remained stagnate.

At only 21-years-old, Crawford still has a lot of time to develop and could still potentially become a superstar. His glove is impeccable and his ability to draw walks is second to none to anyone in the minor leagues. With all that being said, his stats haven’t exactly taken off like many scouts would have projected, so it’s possible that they never will. There is no need to panic, but keeping an eye on his average and power numbers might be a good idea as he continues to develop.