Phillies: 3 details about recently called up center fielder, Travis Jankowski
By David Esser
With Roman Quinn‘s 2021 season likely finished following the left Achilles injury that he suffered on Saturday, the Philadelphia Phillies are starting to really scrape the bottom of the barrel when it comes to their center field position. Things were already pretty bad even with Quinn on the active roster. If it wasn’t for Odubel Herrera‘s rather unexpected resurgence, the team would still likely be operating with the worst CF position in all of baseball.
While the Phillies are likely going to ride Odubel and his hot bat for as long as humanly possible, outfield depth is much needed at the moment. Bryce Harper is still currently on the injured list, Andrew McCutchen has been below average for a majority of the season, and Matt Joyce has not been the plus bench bat that the team envisioned when signing him.
Travis Jankowski the next man up in the Philadelphia Phillies outfield.
With that in mind, to replace Quinn’s spot on the roster, the team called up veteran outfielder Travis Jankowski from AAA on Sunday morning. Here are three quick details to know about the Phillies newest center fielder:
He’s been swinging the bat pretty well as of late.
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At first glance, Jankowski’s career numbers are nothing special. A .238 hitter coming off a really bad stretch of games with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, it’s understandable as to why Jankowski wasn’t able to land a major league job this past spring.
However, through his first 19 games with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Jankowski slashed .304/.451/.375 with four doubles and 15 walks. That high-rate of walks in particular is something that could potentially translate over to the major leagues. I’d definitely prefer bench pieces being capable of working long counts, as opposed to striking out on three or four pitches (looking at you Joyce).
Will that type of AAA production carry over into the MLB for Jankowski? Knowing the Phillies luck, no probably not. But it’s worth highlighting that he’s looked good down in Lehigh nevertheless.