As the 2017 campaign winds down, the Phillies are only worth watching for their young players. Rhys “the alien” Hoskins has been sucking up all the media attention, but J.P. Crawford has been quietly heating up. J.P. collected the only two hits off of Daniel Mengden tonight who ended up pitching a complete game shutout. J.P. has collected at least one hit in each of his last five games and is hitting .368 in that span with three RBI’s. Crawford has also started games at second and third base in that time frame and has also seen time at his natural shortstop position.

Crawford’s versatility will definitely benefit him going forward as the Phillies figure out how to deal with the logjam in the infield. With Crawford, Hernandez, Galvis, Franco and soon to be Kingerey vying for infield playing time, any production could go a long way. Crawford has yet to really generate any extra base hits with only 4 doubles thus far in his career, but his real potential lies in his glove. He has potential be a perennial gold glove candidate if all goes well.

Once regarded as one of the game’s top 10 prospects, Crawford has seen his stock drop in the past year or so but the potential remains high. Crawford will have to prove more valuable than Freddy Galvis, which at one point sounded like a no brainer but is less clear now. Freddy currently leads qualified shortstops with a fielding percentage of .988 and is a candidate for a gold glove this year. His bat has also improved and he has established himself as a team leader. Still though, the fact that Crawford has been getting looks at multiple positions is a sign that he is still very much in the team’s future plans. With Franco’s production in the toilet and Hernandez being the subject of trade rumors, perhaps Crawford will get his starting position somewhere other than shortstop.

The Phillies take on the Athletics again tomorrow at 7:05.

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