Philadelphia Phillies rookie Justin Crawford has hit two home runs in his last seven games.
As Justin Crawford ascended through the Philadelphia Phillies farm system, he gained a reputation for being an overall solid hitter. Not necessarily standing out in one area, but not having a clear weakness in his swing either, outside of a reality high ground ball rate.
About two months into Crawford's rookie campaign, that has remained relatively true. The rookie hitter owns a .273/.343/.413 slash line 121 at-bats into his career, which comes out to a .756 OPS and a 114 wRC+.
The majority of Crawford's offensive production has come out to be singles, with him already racking up 33 base hits and just 11 extra-base hits.
However, over the last week, Crawford has shown potential for another piece of his game, and that’s his power.
In Crawford’s last seven games alone, he’s hit his first and second big-league career home runs.
His first long ball came on May 8th against the Colorado Rockies. Crawford slugged a ball 96.6 mph off the bat, which traveled 361 feet over the right field wall.
The second long ball Crawford hit was a sentimental one, too. He hit a ball 103.4 mph over the deep part of Fenway Park, the same park his dad, Carl Crawford, spent the majority of his career at.
Crawford said the recent home runs and success “feels good,” and just show the payoff and success of what he’s been trying to do in the batter’s box
“I think it feels better, just like a good swing on the ball,” continued the rookie hitter. “That's what I'm trying to do, just hit the ball hard. That's on the ground, in the air, just put good, quality swings on the ball.”
Crawford still isn’t known as a power-hitter, and he’ll likely never reach that title during his career. The left-hander owns an average exit velocity of 87.7 percent (25th percentile) and a hard-hit rate of 36.6 percent (28th percentile) so far through his rookie season.
That said, Crawford is still just 22 years old. There’s still a good chance that he’ll have a little more power to his swing simply as he develops and grows up. If the last week has shown Crawford and the Phillies anything, it’s that he can, at the very least, get the ball over the wall on the right pitch.
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