The Phillies made one of the toughest moves in franchise history last season when they decided to part ways with longtime second baseman Chase Utley. The question is who would take up the mantle at the second base and the more I see him play, I am becoming more convinced Scott Kingery is Chase Utley’s successor at second base.
The Phillies selected Scott Kingery in the second round of last year’s MLB Draft out of Arizona and he’s made some headway in the Phillies farm system, starting this year with the Single-A Clearwater Threshers. In 48 games with the Threshers, Kingery is batting .267 with three home runs, 11 RBI’s, and he also leads the Florida State League in doubles with 20.
The 22-year-old has been batting out of the leadoff spot for the Thrashers, which seems to be the right spot in the order for him because he’s a speed demon on the base paths (11 stolen bases) and he has that gap power you want your top of the order guys to have. It’s not impossible to imagine a future lineup of something like Roman Quinn leading off, Kingery batting second, Odubel batting third, and Maikel Franco batting cleanup to round out the top four guys of the lineup.
Kingery is the type of advanced bat that can move through the Phillies system quickly because he can flat out hit, doesn’t strikeout much, and can hit the ball to all fields. The only thing he doesn’t have is power, but he makes up for it with his fielding and excellent speed.
Kingery’s estimated arrival time to the majors is 2018 and that sound pretty accurate, right around the time the Phillies will be contending again. Don’t be surprised if Kingery gets called up to Reading in the next couple weeks and a middle infield of him and J.P. Crawford could very well be a reality.
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