For Phillies’ Scott Kingery, less thinking has led to more production at the plate | Matt Breen

Scott Kingery returned home last October to Arizona after his first six major-league months had finally ended. It was a chance to relax and stop thinking about baseball, which he had done way too much of during his rookie season.

Kingery’s first season began with a $24 million contract in spring training. It ended with his packing his bags at Citizens Bank Park with the second-worst batting average in the National League. It wasn’t fun, Kingery said.

He overanalyzed every out he had made during the season, and his mind was constantly racing when he was on the field learning yet another new position.

“I was just thinking so much,” Kingery said.

But when he tried relaxing at home, he had trouble keeping his mind off baseball.

“I was like, ‘Man, I was kind of put through a lot.’ There was a lot of stuff that I hadn’t done before that I had to figure out: big-league pitching, playing multiple positions, having to deal with media,” Kingery said.

“I mean, everything that I had never done before, I had to just learn right away. I stepped back and said, ‘Damn. It was a tough year, but there was some stuff thrown at me that was hard for me to handle all at once.’ Now that I have the year under my belt and all that, it just gave me more confidence coming into this year.”

And that is how Kingery found himself Thursday afternoon packing for a West Coast trip in a much better place than when he was packing to go home last October.

He entered the series opener Friday at Dodger Stadium batting .328 with a .942 OPS through 72 plate appearances. He is looking like the player the Phillies expected him to be when they gave him a major-league contract before he reached the majors.

Kingery is playing nearly every day in center field, a position at which he played fewer than two innings last season. He is making progress on defense, but it will take time before he feels comfortable at the position he last played regularly when he was a college walk-on.

Those growing pains are easier to live with when Kingery is looking much more comfortable at the plate than he did as a rookie.

He made some adjustments with his swing after last season, but Kingery said the fixes were so fine that “someone who doesn’t know what they’re looking for wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.”

The bigger change, Kingery said, is in his mentality. He was passive at the plate last season and tried to work walks, something he had never done in the minor leagues.

Kingery succeeded as a minor-leaguer with an aggressive approach. He was ready to swing at every pitch and “never passed up a good pitch to hit,” he said. If the pitcher threw him something outside or not what he was looking for, Kingery laid off it. Walks, he said, came naturally.

That mentality is back. Kingery looks comfortable at the plate this season because he’s relaxed. And he’s relaxed because he’s confident.

“When I was in the minors," he said, "it was just, ‘Go out there and play.’ Instincts take over, and it’s just reaction. I was never thinking about anything. I was never worrying about anything. It was just going out there and having fun and playing baseball.

“I was like, ‘Well, that’s how I’ve always been. How did I get away from that, and why can’t I go back to that?’”

Kingery had played just 63 games above double A when he signed his contract last March with just four days remaining in spring training. The Phillies saw enough of Kingery in the minors — an .889 OPS in 2017 between double A and triple A — to believe he was ready for the majors.

He spent that afternoon, one of the final carefree days before his challenging season began, playing ping-pong in the team’s spring-training clubhouse. His opponent was Rhys Hoskins, one of Kingery’s closest friends on the team and his confidant as he navigated the majors.

Hoskins, just two years earlier, faced the same challenges Kingery would soon meet. He knew how difficult the adjustment to the major leagues could be.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Scott Kingery goes deep on changes at the plate after 2018 horror show

“What kind of gets lost in all that is that he was learning,” Hoskins said. “Not only did he sign the contract, so obviously that comes with outside pressure and more than anything the pressure we put on ourselves with something like that.

"There’s learning a new position. He goes from being a second baseman in his professional career to not playing second base but playing third and left and center and primarily playing shortstop and trying to learn that at the big-league level, where the clock is shorter and everything has to be calculated.

"Just learning that on the fly and he’s learning what it’s like to travel, what it’s like to be a big-leaguer, what it’s like to prepare and then go play on the biggest stage in this game. I think that kind of gets lost in that. Like this was his first full season.

"I think now that there aren’t any more firsts for him, it just allows him to relax and not feel like he’s trying to learn on the fly anymore. I think you’re seeing that in his play right now. You’re seeing that with some of the confidence that he’s exuding. I think he’s just more comfortable.”

Kingery stepped to the plate Wednesday night against the Cardinals, six months after he returned to Arizona and tried to not think. Now, he was in the batter’s box at Citizens Bank Park and his mind was clear.

His main goal, Kingery said, is to play free. The pressure he felt last season is gone. He’s no longer a rookie trying to find his way. He’s not working to live up to the $24 million contract.

It helps, Kingery said, that the clubhouse is filled with talent. The Phillies added four All-Stars this winter. The attention is no longer on Kingery. That has made it easier for him to play without thinking.

The first pitch he saw in the fifth inning Wednesday was a fastball. Kingery, no longer feeling passive at the plate, jumped on it. He crushed it for a two-run homer to left-center field, and a rout was on. Kingery circled the bases, touched home plate, and walked down the dugout steps as his teammates showered him with sunflower seeds.

Kingery’s mind is clear. After a tough rookie season, he’s having fun again.

“Half the battle is just trying to have fun while you’re playing,” Kingery said.

“No matter what happens, baseball is a tough sport, and if you can keep it light and fun while you’re out there on the field, you play looser and you’re not tensed up and worried about stuff. If you’re thinking, you’re going to get stuck on one thought. For me, it’s just about not thinking when I’m out there and just letting my baseball instincts take over.”