Scott Kingery Is Quietly Having a Great Season
In March of 2018, the Philadelphia Phillies locked up one of their top prospects, Scott Kingery, before he stepped foot onto a major league baseball field.
After hitting a mere .226 with eight home runs and 126 strikeouts in his rookie season, it was beginning to look like the six-year/$24 million dollar contract was too generous.
In 2019, Kingery has been cruising in the bottom half of the Phillies lineup, putting up a solid .324 average, seven home runs, and a .995 OPS.
Since the insertion of newly-acquired Jay Bruce, Kingery has done extremely well hitting behind him. In those seven games, Kingery is hitting .320 with two doubles, a triple, and four home runs. Kingery’s slugging percentage has increased from .436 in the month of May to a crushing .757, while his OPS climbed from .753 in May to a whopping 1.090 in June.
In an interview with Todd Zolecki of mlb.com, Kingery said, ““I look at my swing from last year and, to be honest, there’s minimal differences, I think that it’s all just the confidence coming this year, the approach and the mindset coming up to bat now. I think that’s what’s changed and what’s letting me have good success now.”
Kingery was hitting .406 with six extra-base hits and a 1.176 OPS before getting hurt on April 20th. The injury, however, didn’t slow him down. His consistent hitting has made it easier to keep him in the lineup while giving other players rest and filling in for injured players.
Kingery, however, is doing more than just helping the injury-plagued Phillies fill holes in center field, left field, third base, shortstop, and second base, where he’s started a combined 26 games. He’s been one of the Phillies’ best defensive players. Kingery is perfect with a 1.000 fielding percentage at four of the five positions he’s played this year. His lone error on the year has been at shortstop, where he’s still sporting an impressive .960 fielding percentage while turning six double plays in three starts at the position.
With the Atlanta Braves giving the Phillies chase in the National League East, the club will need Kingery to continue to be productive in order to make their first postseason since 2011.
Photo: via Twitter (@JClarkNBCS)
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Categorized:Phillies