By Sarah Berkowitz
As the big club is fighting for its life in the NL East, 13 games behind division-leading Washington, there is good news for the future:
Shortstop J. P. Crawford’s Double A debut.
He had an RBI single in Reading’s 4-3 victory over Richmond Saturday , but he was also picked off first base. He made some nice plays in the field, but was also charged with an error.
Crawford, promoted from Class A Clearwater on Friday night, said after Saturday’s game that he was “a little nervous” and that it was “a big relief” to get the first one behind him.
He also said that he has been given no specific marching orders by the organization, that there’s nothing in particular he has been told to work on.
Rather, he said the idea is to “just go out there and do my thing. Just have fun, be comfortable, play the way I play.”
He was the 16th overall pick in the 2013 draft, out of Lakewood (Calif.) High School. And afterward he announced, according to MLB.com, that he hoped to learn something from Jimmy Rollins “and take his place.”
Crawford went from rookie ball to the team’s low-A affiliate in Lakewood that season, then Lakewood to high-A Clearwater last summer.
“I think it’s a big difference coming up here, instead of going from low to high A,” he told CSNPhilly.com. “You’ve got a lot more experience. Some people have played in MLB before. They have a bunch of experience, so they know what they’re doing out there.”
Crawford went hitless his first three times up, and bobbled a fourth-inning grounder for his error. But in the seventh he stroked a 2-2 pitch back through the middle to chase in a run, staking future Phillies starter Aaron Nola to a 3-1 lead.
