Adam Haseley cracking the Phillies Opening Day lineup is a great sign

Just a few days ago, and I wrote an entire piece detailing how Roman Quinn would likely be the Philadelphia Phillies Opening Day center fielder. Taking into account Max Fried’s righty/lefty splits, Joe Girardi’s affection towards Quinn, and the overall reluctance the organization has shown towards handing things over to Adam Haseley out in center – the stars genuinely seemed aligned to have Quinn in the Opening Day lineup.

However, somewhat surprisingly, Girardi and the Phillies finally appear ready to give the keys to CF to Haseley full-time:

While trotting out another lefty against Fried, the Braves’ unquestioned “Ace”, might be a tad worrisome, the truth of the matter is that Haseley being the team’s everyday center fielder in 2021 is great news for everyone involved. Not only is Haseley currently far better than the likes of Roman Quinn (or Odubel Herrera and Scott Kingery, both of whom are in the minor-leagues), but the general consensus is that Haseley still has some untapped potential left inside of him.

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The eighth overall pick back in 2017, Haseley was always drafted with the expectation that he’d blossom into an everyday outfielder rather quickly.

Haseley was definitively solid during his rookie season back in 2019, finishing with an OPS of .720 and a defensive WAR of 1.3. Having him return to that level of fielding form here in ’21 would help out the Phillies’ defensive woes quite a bit, and any extra offensive production from the eight-hole will be happily accepted as well.

The Phillies arguably have one of the deepest offensive lineups in all of baseball, so Haseley’s ability to cover ground out in CF is what will ultimately dictate the narrative surrounding his third season in the majors.

Adam Haseley is the Phillies Opening Day center fielder.

For what it’s worth, Haseley does in fact struggle against left-handed pitching – that’s not some sort of false narrative that the Phillies have invented for no reason. Looking at his career splits, Haseley has a .744 OPS against right-handed arms, compared to a measly .589 OPS against lefties. A pretty sizable difference.

With that said, Haseley isn’t going to *learn* to hit better against lefties by riding the bench every time a southpaw takes the mound. As much as the Phillies want to trot out their most competitive lineup each and everyday, taking the time early in the season to let Haseley develop a bit will have better longterm implications.

Ultimately speaking, Girardi’s decision to name Haseley the Opening Day CF against a dominant lefty ace in Fried shows that the Phillies haven’t lost confidence in their former first-round pick just quite yet. There were some serious whispers of the team looking to upgrade the CF position during the offseason, so it’s a positive trend to see Haseley win the job outright, despite battling a groin injury during Spring Training.

The Phillies could still end up trading for some sort of veteran center fielder later in the season should Haseley struggle, but at least early on, it looks like we’re going to get our fair share of Haseley as the team’s everyday center fielder alongside the likes of Bryce Harper and Andrew McCutchen.

For a team that’s really struggled developing young talent over the last couple of seasons, that’s a great sign in itself.