Justin Crawford prepares for ‘extra room to run around’ in center field during first road trip with Phillies

DENVER — The first thing Justin Crawford does when he arrives at a new stadium is wander around the outfield.

He does it to get a feel for each new place. Ahead of opening day, Crawford walked across the Citizens Bank Park grass barefoot, taking in his new domain in center field. And before the Phillies’ first game in Colorado on Friday, Crawford did the same thing.

There was a lot more ground for him to cover this time, because Coors Field is the biggest in Major League Baseball with 116,729 square feet of fair territory. The center field wall — which has a small forest beyond it — is 415 feet from home plate.

By contrast, Citizens Bank Park has 104,706 square feet of fair territory, which is the fourth-smallest in MLB.

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Crawford discussed the dimensions with his teammates and outfield coach Paco Figueroa, but said he didn’t plan on approaching the challenge of Coors Field any differently.

“I think, if anything, maybe take a couple more steps back,” Crawford said. “Depending on who’s hitting, who’s not. Still just playing the game, reading the situation, but not over analyzing. ... Those balls that I think might be hit off the wall, I should probably keep running.”

It helps that Crawford is quick. His sprint speed of 27.9 feet per second ranks in the 86th percentile of baseball players.

After a memorable first week of the season capped with his first career walk-off on Wednesday, Crawford is jumping right into the fire for his first road trip as a major leaguer. In addition to the larger area, Coors Field sits 5,280 feet above sea level, and the thinner air at the high elevation is infamous for allowing hit balls to carry further.

“For me, I think about Colorado, people think about homers, I think about a lot of hits,” Figueroa said. “It’s so big. You can get hits all over the place.”

Figueroa said Oracle Park in San Francisco, where the Phillies are headed after facing the Rockies, is also a challenge for outfielders since it sits directly in front of the water, which can cause “swirling” wind.

As the season progresses, Crawford will need to continue learning each ballpark’s peculiarities, which is why his pregame habit is a practical one.

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At each new stadium, he also needs to adjust to the visuals. Minor league stadiums usually only have a single deck, while major league stadiums typically have three behind home plate, creating a different visual for the outfielder that can sometimes make it tricky to pick up fly balls.

“You got to get used to it,” Figueroa said. “The backdrop in different stadiums are different colors. Philly is different, here is different, depending on color of the seats. Whether it’s a packed house is different.”

The Phillies didn’t take batting practice outside before Friday’s opener against the Rockies, due to the chilly weather in Denver. They did do defensive work, with Figueroa running drills with Crawford and other outfielders pregame. But without batting practice, Crawford didn’t get the opportunity to shag balls and get used to reading them off the bat at elevation.

“We call it travel ball,” Figueroa said. “Go and play.”

It didn’t seem to affect him too much on Friday. Crawford snagged the first ball sent in his direction, a sharply-hit fly ball on the warning track in the second inning.

Crawford said he embraces it.

“I’m honestly excited to get some extra room to run around,” he said.

Orion Kerkering (hamstring) will pitch another inning in his rehab assignment on Saturday. He will meet the team in San Francisco, and could be reactivated on Monday or Tuesday. ... Zack Wheeler (thoracic outlet decompression surgery) started for triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday. ... Jesús Luzardo (0-1, 9.00 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday against the Rockies.