The Phillies can’t replace Andrew McCutchen in the leadoff spot, but Scott Kingery gives them their best shot | Matt Breen

Gabe Kapler grabbed a black marker and his red Phillies cap earlier this month shortly after watching Andrew McCutchen leave his office on crutches.

McCutchen told Kapler that he would miss the rest of the season. The anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee was torn and required surgery.

McCutchen, signed this winter as a veteran outfielder, was the team’s most productive player. He batted leadoff every day, setting the tone for the rest of the lineup. It was a crushing loss.

So Kapler turned to the back of his cap and etched McCutchen’s initials and No. 22. The manager wears that hat each night in the dugout, keeping McCutchen with the team as he recovers from surgery. McCutchen won’t be gone forever, but it felt as if a piece of the team was lost when he limped out of Kapler’s office.

“We knew it was going to be really difficult to replace him,” Kapler said. “I don't think we have another profile like Andrew McCutchen.”

Kapler used McCutchen as the leadoff hitter for 59 of the team’s first 60 games, etching McCutchen’s name at the top of the lineup almost as permanently as he scribbled his initials onto his hat. It was harder to find a more productive leadoff hitter than McCutchen.

From opening day until his season ended on June 3, McCutchen had the seventh-highest on-base percentage and second-best walk rate among the 57 players who batted leadoff at least 10 times.

He averaged a career-high 4.45 pitches per plate appearance, providing the rest of the lineup an extended look at the opposing pitcher. His weighted-runs created, an advanced stat that tries to measure a batter’s overall offensive production, was the second best among leadoff hitters.

For the final three months of last season, the Phillies ranked below the league average from the leadoff spot in nearly every offensive category. In McCutchen, they found a spark for the top of the lineup that they spent all offseason bolstering. And then he was gone.

“It’s a huge loss,” Scott Kingery said. “The biggest thing is that he was a power threat at the top of our lineup while also having one of the best eyes in the game. He’s an unbelievable leadoff hitter, so it’s hard to replace, but we have to keep going and I think other people will step in there and do the job.”

Kapler first tried Cesar Hernandez in McCutchen’s leadoff spot, then Jean Segura, and finally Bryce Harper. But those three struggled to match McCutchen’s production, combining for a .273 on-base percentage, third lowest in baseball during that three-week stretch.

The Phillies averaged 4.12 runs and won just six of their first 17 games without McCutchen batting leadoff.

The offense was stagnant, but Kingery was producing near the bottom of the order. From June 4 to 23, Kingery batted .328 in 66 plate appearances with a 1.133 OPS, the seventh highest mark in baseball.

Kapler shuffled Kingery among the Nos. 3, 6, and 7 spots in the lineup but was hesitant to move him to leadoff. After a trying rookie season, Kingery was finding success. The manager wanted to keep him comfortable.

But finally, he gave in. Kapler batted Kingery in the leadoff spot Monday and started him there for each of the team’s four games against the Mets.

Kingery reached base five times in the four games. He started Tuesday night with a leadoff homer and Thursday with a single. The Phillies won all four games, moving on from a seven-game losing streak. He is averaging more than four pitches per plate appearances this season and gives the Phillies a leadoff hitter with both speed and power.

They don’t expect Kingery to replace McCutchen, but they seem to be expecting him to be their new leadoff hitter.

“I don’t think there’s a specific job that the leadoff hitter has,” Kingery said. “Whoever is at the top of the lineup plays baseball the way that they know how to. I know people talk about seeing pitches, walking. Regardless, I don’t think there’s one specific type of leadoff hitter. I just think it changes from team to team depending on who’s there. I have the same mindset as every other spot in the lineup. I did it pretty much my whole minor-league career, so it’s just back to normal.”

The Phillies have chosen to maximize Kingery’s versatility instead of giving him a set position on the field. He has played left field, center field, third base, shortstop, and second base this season after playing seven positions last year.

Kapler took that same approach to Kingery’s place in the batting order, as he moved him around to different spots. But that seems to be changing. Kingery still does not have a set position, but he could be finding a set lineup spot.

“The only time a leadoff hitter really matters is the bottom of the first inning or the top of the first inning,” Rhys Hoskins said. “If I’m hitting fourth and I lead off the second inning, does that make me a leadoff hitter? But having a guy like Scotty in that spot, who can drive the ball and also put the ball in play batting behind the pitcher who is potentially bunting a guy into scoring position, is huge.

"It’s kind of like Cutch. Cutch was a little bit different. Saw a lot more pitches and was really comfortable with the strike zone, but still had that ability to do damage at any time. You like having that guy at the plate in that situation. There’s some similarity there, I think.”

If Kingery can tackle the leadoff spot, it will create more RBI chances for Harper and Hoskins. The Phillies lineup will be as deep as it was early this season when McCutchen was setting the tone. It was not by chance that the Phillies fell into their worst stretch of the season as soon as McCutchen limped out of Kapler’s office.

They committed $475 million this winter to their roster, but it seemed as if McCutchen made the biggest impact in the season’s first two months. The Phillies will spend the rest of the season trying more to overcome his loss than to replace him.

McCutchen won’t return until next spring training, but Kapler will need to just look at his cap this summer for a reminder of the value he brought.

“It was tough,” Hoskins said. “He’s a veteran hitter who knows the league and knows what guys are trying to do to him. He’s hit in the leadoff spot before. It’s a hard thing to do. I think there’s a mental block there for some guys. ‘I’m leading off the game. I have to have a long at-bat here.’

"No, no, you don’t. You’re just trying to find a way on base no matter how you do it. Having a guy like Cutch who was comfortable and has experience doing it, and when you lose that, you’re trying to put guys there who haven’t done it before. That’s always tough.”