Amid struggles at the plate, Justin Crawford has found others ways to improve: ‘You see a difference’

Justin Crawford may not have been in the Phillies starting lineup Friday against the White Sox, but it wasn’t a day off.

Interim manager Don Mattingly held the 22-year-old center fielder out against White Sox lefty Anthony Kay to give switch-hitter Steward Berroa an opportunity to start his second game since he was called up on May 29.

But Crawford still did his typical pregame work, including drills with outfield coach Paco Figueroa and his regular hitting in the cages.

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“I tell him there’s no off day. The only off day he has, is the [team] off day it says on the calendar,” Figueroa said.

Crawford doubled on Thursday against the Padres, but overall hasn’t been seeing consistent results at the plate lately. Since May 1, he has been hitting .195, cooling off from the .267 average he posted across March and April.

But even as Crawford has slumped at the plate, his defense hasn’t suffered. In fact, it’s seen marked improvement as he has stayed consistent in his work.

“I guess you can say more aggressive, but I think it’s more understanding, no matter that it’s the big leagues, you’re playing like you’re the best player on the field,” Figueroa said. “And that’s how he’s always felt his whole career, coming up. And again, to be able to do that and improve when he’s still not hitting, it’s a testament to him.”

Figueroa talks with his players often about not letting at-bats affect their performance in the outfield. But it’s far easier said than done.

“It’s just human nature,” Figueroa said. “It’s in your brain. And then what happens, now you’re maybe a step slower, you’re more conservative.”

Crawford meets with Figueroa on a regular basis to go over his analytics. He posted a minus-3 outs above average in center field in March and April, which put him second-worst in the majors at his position, only ahead of Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez.

“He was rated in the bottom tier of defensive center fielders, and I told him, I showed him,” Figueroa said. “Some guys can be like ‘Oh, poor me,’ but he’s not that.”

Instead, Crawford has started playing with more confidence and more aggression in the outfield. Rather than worry about making mistakes and playing tentatively, he commits.

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“I told him, if you want to play center field, like stop the timid. I don’t care if you dive for a ball and miss it. You got to play. Show me what you got, you know?” Figueroa said. “And it goes with jumps, balls at the wall, balls that are shallow in. And you see a difference.”

That was exemplified on the the Phillies’ West Coast road trip last week. Crawford made two catches while crashing into the center field wall, once against the Padres to help Cristopher Sánchez preserve his scoreless streak, and again against the Dodgers to help Andrew Painter out of an early jam.

In their latest metrics meeting, Crawford’s numbers saw a marked improvement. He’s increased his outs above average to zero in the month of May, elevating him from bottom tier to average.

And Mattingly remains confident that the hitting will come, as well. In addition to his double on Thursday, Crawford hit a 97.5 mph groundout that was solid contact but didn’t find a hole on the infield.

“What I like about Craw is his face is the same, and his work is the same,” Mattingly said. “As far as like not being down or searching and making a lot of changes, obviously you’re trying to make adjustments to get better, but he’s not panicking and doing all kinds of different stuff.”

He also stole a base, increasing his season total to eight. Despite his 97th percentile sprint speed, Crawford had been more tentative on the basepaths early in his rookie season. But just as he’s grown more comfortable taking bigger chances in the outfield, he’s also becoming more comfortable taking bigger leads on the basepaths.

“It’s fun to see that. It’s good for the Phillies. And it’s good for him,” Figueroa said.

Bryson Stott also was out of the lineup on Friday against Kay, with Edmundo Sosa drawing in at second base. “I’ve been playing [Stott] against most lefties, just buying him a day here, getting Sosa in the lineup,” Mattingly said. ... Andrew Painter (1-6, 5.74 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite White Sox right-hander Sean Burke (2-3, 3.72) on Saturday.

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