June 22, 2015
Tug Haines/Reading Fightin Phils
J.P. Crawford is hitting .298 in 21 games since his promotion to Double-A Reading.
His father Larry Crawford played football at Iowa State and went on to be a four-time All-Star in the Canadian Football League. His cousin Carl Crawford turned down offers to play point guard at UCLA -- and quarterback at Nebraska -- and was drafted in MLB’s second round in 1999. A four-time All-Star outfielder, he is currently on the DL with the Dodgers.
After turning down a scholarship to play for Southern California, John Paul Crawford, 20, was a first-round pick of the Phillies two years ago. He is currently batting leadoff for the Double-A Reading Fightin’ Phils in the Eastern League.
But it wasn’t his father, and it wasn’t his cousin, who piqued his interest in baseball.
It was his older sister, Eliza.
“She played softball, so that’s why I actually played baseball; because of her,’’ said Crawford, who goes by J.P. “We’d always work out together and go out and hit in the batting cages and throw outside in the back yard.’’
A graduate of Cal State-Fullerton, the 23-year-old Eliza now works as a softball instructor at Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Cal., 15 minutes from where they grew up in the suburb of Lakewood.
“He’s a pretty special guy,’’ Cassiatore said. “Everything about him, you forget he’s only 19-20; the way he’s mature and goes about his work. He’s a grinder; he loves to work in the cage. There are a lot of positive things about him, and you get excited about a guy like that.’’
“My dad was on me to play sports,’’ Crawford said, “and he’d been through it, so I learned a lot from him. My mom, she’d drive me to all my practices, but she was an athlete in high school too. We come from an athletic and competitive family.’’
That is not lost on hitting coach Frank Cassiatore, who also coached Crawford last season at Single-A Lakewood and who worked with him during spring training.
“He’s a pretty special guy,’’ Cassiatore said. “Everything about him, you forget he’s only 19-20; the way he’s mature and goes about his work. He’s a grinder; he loves to work in the cage. There are a lot of positive things about him, and you get excited about a guy like that.’’
Crawford, a 6-2, 180-pound left-handed hitter, has all five tools in his belt.
Starting this season in Class-A Clearwater, in 21 games he hit .392, had one home run, 14 walks, 15 runs, drove in eight and stole five bases. He began the season as the Phillies' top-rated prospect and the 14th overall minor league prospect in the game according to Baseball America.
Last year he received the Paul Owens Award as the best position player in the Phillies minor league system. Between Lakewood and Clearwater he batted .285 with 11 homers and 48 RBIs.
Going into Monday night’s game against Portland he is hitting .298 in 21 games, with 28 hits (8 doubles, triple and home run), 14 walks and 14 runs scored.
“I’ve improved a lot,’’ Crawford said about the past year. I’m staying consistent in the box and defensively. I’ve matured a lot, on and off the field, and I have my priorities straight. I love baseball. You can’t get a better job in the world.’’
Fellow Californian Art Charles, also an infielder, received a heads up about Crawford when Charles was in Clearwater last year and Crawford was playing for the Lakewood BlueClaws. Shane Watson, a high school teammate of Crawford’s and also a first-round pick by the Phillies, told Charles to keep an eye on his buddy.
Charles, who signed with Toronto five years ago after playing at Bakersfield College in California, did just that.
“He was doing really well and I said to Shane, ‘Man, your boy’s gonna’ be moved up sometime soon,’ and sure enough he got moved up and was with us, and it was cool and I got to know him a little bit."
“He’s a good dude,’’ the 6-foot-6 Charles said recently during a three-game series at Trenton. “He works hard, he has the right direction, he’s positive, and he knows every day he’s going to go out there and compete.
“He has great defensive awareness, good instincts; he pretty much does it all. He’s also a leader, in the clubhouse and the dugout. But he also has fun. You gotta’ have fun,’’ Charles said with a big smile.
Mickey Morandini had fun when he played for the Phillies, especially during the pennant-winning season of 1993. Now a coach with Reading, he’s another who can’t say enough about the kid.
“He’s a baseball player,’’ Morandini simply said. “He knows how to play the game. He’s a very confident kid, very aggressive. He wants to be in those situations when the game is on the line. He wants to be up at the plate, he wants the ball hit to him.
“My dad told me to look up to [Derek Jeter] because of the way he carries himself on and off the field. No one ever has anything bad to say about him," Crawford said. "I think I’m a good guy. If you’re my boy I’m gonna’ have your back.’’
“He puts the ball in play, he has a good swing, has some power, and he can handle left-handed pitching. Defensively he has good hands, pretty good hands, but what’s impressed me the most is how quick he gets rid of the ball; especially on the double play. He’s the real deal. He has a chance to be very good.’’
While Crawford certainly enjoys circling the bases on a home run, or going from first to third on a single to right, what he really loves is defense.
"A big home run is cool,’’ he said, “but making the big defensive play to save the game, or save a run; that really fires me up.’’
Not surprisingly a Dodgers fan, Crawford looked east to admire his favorite player. But that’s not a surprise either as he patterned himself after Derek Jeter.
“My dad told me to look up to him because of the way he carries himself on and off the field. No one ever has anything bad to say about him. I think I’m a good guy,’’ Crawford offered. “If you’re my boy I’m gonna’ have your back.’’
While it’s hard to find a negative about him, Cassiatore does have one complaint. He doesn’t enjoy Crawford’s taste in music.
“There’s a generation gap there,’’ Cassiatore said with a smile. “He’s not boisterous or loud, but his music can be.’’
Charles laughed when told about the coach’s comments.
“If a song has a few cuss words, Frank doesn’t like it,’’ he said with a constant smile. “Everybody else likes it in the clubhouse, and everybody jams to it. But Frank does NOT like it.’’
Their music ranges from reggae and rap, to hip-hop and R&B.
“Anything J.P. plays, something’s wrong with it,’’ Charles cracked. “Sometimes we bring our little portable stereos to the cage, and Frank will say, ‘Hey, you can play whatever you want, but J.P. can’t put his music on in there.’ It’s pretty funny, actually.’’
Sounds at Citizens Bank Park are more appealing for them, and Crawford projects to be playing there sooner than later.
“I see myself starting at shortstop, being a regular out there,’’ Crawford said. An All-Star? “Oh yeah.’’
