The Phillies Who Stood Out in Grapefruit League Opener vs. Blue Jays

If Justin Crawford's first plate appearance of the spring was any indication, he's going to be pretty comfortable in the batter's box against lefties.

Crawford led off for the Phillies in Saturday's Grapefruit League opener in Dunedin against the Blue Jays. Toronto started left-hander Eric Lauer, a seven-year veteran of 127 starts with the Brewers, Padres and Blue Jays.

Lauer isn't necessarily a tough lefty, but he has held same-handed hitters to a .213 batting average the last three seasons.

Inside Crawford's afternoon

Crawford worked a deep count against Lauer in the top of the first and nearly laced a line-drive home run to right field, narrowly pulling it foul.

A few pitches later, he kept a 390-foot drive well within the lines, doubling off the wall in left-center field.

Wasting no time! Our first hit of the spring comes courtesy of Justin Crawford pic.twitter.com/EHLKCRl5kd
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) February 21, 2026

Crawford hit .376 last season at Triple A against left-handed pitching and the Phillies do not plan to platoon him. They're going to give him every chance to produce and grow because he represents such a large part of their future.

The Phillies paid nearly $100 million more last season in payroll and tax than ever before, and the payroll is slightly higher this year. It's a necessity that they start receiving big-league production from top prospects like Crawford, Andrew Painter and eventually Aidan Miller.

Crawford will almost certainly open the season at the bottom of the Phillies' order, but he'll receive plenty of plate appearances up top this spring as they try to maximize his reps against live pitching.

Crawford struck out on a pitch clock violation and singled over the shortstop's head in his next two at-bats. He also made a nice, sliding grab to rob Addison Barger of a base hit.

The first two challenges

The Phillies' first Automated Ball-Strike challenge of spring training was made by catcher Rafael Marchan. Teams begin a game with two ABS challenges apiece and retain each successful one. These challenges can be made by only the pitcher, hitter or catcher.

Marchan challenged a first-inning 1-0 fastball off the plate by starting pitcher Bryse Wilson against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The pitch remained a ball.

Teams will be looser in the spring than in the regular season with their use of challenges. When the games actually count, you don't want to waste any on early borderline calls that won't have a huge impact on the game.

With hitters like Guerrero, the difference between a 2-0 count vs. 1-1 is often massive. In his career, he's hit .293 with a 1.030 OPS after starting a count 2-0 and .255 with a .786 OPS after the count begins 1-1. So it could be worth challenging this sort of call, but only if the pitch is closer than it was in this instance, and probably not with the bases empty in the first inning.

The Phillies' second challenge was used by outfielder Bryan De La Cruz on a 2-2 count in his third at-bat. After review, the pitch just nipped a piece of the outside corner to remain a strike. It was a good example of how tough it will be to overturn borderline strikes because if any piece of the ball touches the corner, it will remain a strike.

By going 0-for-2, the Phillies were out of challenges by the top of the sixth.

Garcia's day

Adolis Garcia started in right field and batted second in his Phillies spring training debut. He flied out softly to right and left field in his first two at-bats, chasing a heater well above the zone for the second out and again to fall behind 0-1 in his third at-bat, which ended with a groundout to the left side.

Garcia, for what its worth, has started slowly the last four springs, hitting .214 with eight home runs and 50 strikeouts in 189 at-bats.

McCambley debuts

The Phillies' selection in the major-league portion of December's Rule 5 draft was right-handed reliever Zach McCambley from the Miami Marlins. The 26-year-old Netcong, NJ native is coming off a great season spent mostly at Triple A. Overall, he struck out 83 in 62 innings last season with a 2.90 ERA.

McCambley pitched the bottom of the third Saturday, striking out Nathan Lukes looking, walking Ernie Clement, grounding out Andres Gimenez and retiring the dangerous Guerrero on a weak flyball to center with a perfectly executed low-and-away slider.

McCambley. pic.twitter.com/deQONU3t5g
— Absolutely Hammered (@ah_pod) February 21, 2026

McCambley has held right-handed hitters to a .182 batting average the last two seasons in the upper minors. His pathway to making the Phillies' Opening Day roster would be as their lowest-leverage righty behind Jhoan Duran, Brad Keller, Orion Kerkering and Jonathan Bowlan.

McCambley is not guaranteed that spot, however, he's batting with 10 to 12 other pitchers in camp. Three of the relievers in that competition — Max Lazar, Seth Johnson and Nolan Hoffman — followed McCambley on Saturday. Johnson was taken deep by Daulton Varsho and Hoffman allowed two runs on four hits in his inning of work.

As a Rule 5 pick, McCambley would have to be passed through waivers and/or offered back to the Marlins for $50,000 if he is not on the Opening Day roster or removed from the active roster without an injury.

"When we drafted him, we had the feeling that he could make the team," president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters at the Winter Meetings.

"And one of the things that we've talked about looking to have over the last few years is a right-handed person in the bullpen that dominates right-handed hitters. So we think he has a chance to do that. We can gamble a little bit on it, because we've got roster spots. If it doesn't work, it's unfortunate, but then you look at returning him. But hopefully he has a chance to make it."