Philadelphia Phillies: A trip to AAA could seriously benefit Scott Kingery

While he did record an opposite field base hit during today’s game against the Blue Jays, Spring Training has not been kind to Scott Kingery this year. Coming off a fairly abysmal 2020 campaign, many were expecting the highly paid utility-bat to bounce back this offseason. Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Phillies, that just hasn’t been the case.

Despite being in the mix for the everyday job out in center field, Kingery has really failed to rise up to the occasion. He’s hitting just .133 this spring, going 4-30 at the plate while striking out a whopping 14 times.

Kingery has particularly struggled with fastballs for some odd reason, which is pretty concerning considering he’s set to enter his fourth season in the majors. It’s one thing for minor league prospects to struggle with high heat during Spring Training, it’s another thing for multi-year veterans battling for a starting job to.

As I’m writing this, it still feels like Kingery is somewhat of a “lock” for the Opening Day roster. His defensive versatility is the best on the roster (he can play 2B, SS, 3B, and the outfield), and he’s obviously being paid a fair amount of money. Throw in the fact that rookie infielder C.J. Chatham was optioned down to the minor leagues earlier last week, and there’s very minimal competition for Kingery at the moment.

More from Section 215

While he’s probably out of the running for the starting CF job at this point in time, Joe Girardi will likely opt to keep Kingery around as a go-to bench bat/defensive substitution.

Girardi spoke about the struggling infielder/outfielder after Saturday’s performance, remaining steadfast that he’ll turn a corner here soon:

"“Really good at-bat…I think it’s important for him to have some success so he can build off it.He’s working his tail off trying to make his swing better and be productive.Let’s see what happens over these next eight or nine days and then we’ll adjust our roster the way we need to.”"

While Joe’s confidence is much appreciated, the brutal reality is that a stint back in AAA is likely what’s best for “Scotty Jetpax” at the moment. His swing looks broken, and it’ll be tough for him to work on it without getting consistent at-bats. Additionally, the Philadelphia Phillies are trying to crack the postseason this year, they don’t really have the time to be patient with struggling bench players.

The Philadelphia Phillies should consider sending Scott Kingery down to AAA.

Getting a couple weeks/months of everyday at-bats in a low pressure environment like Lehigh could do a lot for Kingery’s longterm development.

Kingery also has minor-league options left, while someone like Roman Quinn does not. As much as Quinn frustrates fans at times, he’s been a far more productive hitter than Kingery this spring. Carrying him onto the final roster and sending Kingery down makes the most sense (from a transactional standpoint.)

Next. Philadelphia Phillies: Has Odubel Herrera already won the starting CF gig?. dark

It’s definitely not ideal to have to send Kingery down (especially when you consider the fact that he was expected to play a big role this year), but there’s more at stake here than just having a utility-man off the bench. There’s still a chance that Kingery could develop into a good MLB player later down the road – it might just take longer than we all initially expected.

Home/Philadelphia Phillies