While one Phillies player may soon be making his long-awaited major league debut, another could see his career facing an uncertain future. 

Since the 2025 season began, the Philadelphia Phillies have been getting sub-standard results from their outfielders. It’s really pretty amazing – not to mention a testament to the team’s greatness at the other positions – that the Phillies have built a 6-game lead in the National League East, as well as the second-best record overall in the National League, despite rather horrendous numbers from the three outfield positions. 

Just chew on this for a moment: the Phillies lead Major League Baseball in total Wins Above Replacement (12.8) across all positions, but rank just 20th in center field (-0.3), 25th in left field (-1.3), and 27th in right field (-2.6). 

All season long, Phillies fans have lamented the obvious shortcomings , as well as the organization’s dumbfounding refusal to fix the problem, as succinctly stated in this comment to a Reddit post from earlier in the season. 

“It’s quite remarkable that the team has managed to be successful despite such an awful outfield. The Phillies are 6th in runs scored (now ninth overall, fifth in the National League ) despite getting very little production from an area you typically should be getting a lot of it. 

“It’s something that’s been a problem for a while and needs to be seriously addressed soon. We can’t keep trying to piece together scraps, we need solid every day players there at some point.” 

MLB Analyst Estimates Justin Crawford Callup Just Days Away

Perhaps most dumbfounding of all is that the Phillies already have a solid everyday player ready to plug into the outfield, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski just won’t make the move. However, he may not be able to hold out much longer. 

Down at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Justin Crawford has been absolutely raking all season long. The No. 3 prospect in the Phillies system, Crawford has posted a slash line of .330/.414/.437 over 94 games. He is currently second in the International League in batting average, and he is also second in both runs scored (71) and stolen bases (36). 

“I feel ready,” said the son of former major leaguer Carl Crawford about his eventual call up to the Show. “Obviously, they know best, and whenever they decide to make that decision is when they make it. 

“But I feel good, and I feel like I just have to continue to show up every day and continue to do what I do and just stay in the moment, most importantly.” 

Phillies Adding Justin Crawford May Force Release of Max Kepler

According to Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors, Crawford may soon be showing up at Citizens Bank Park.  

During the Tuesday chat with readers, Adams was asked about the potential of Crawford being called up on Friday. August 15 is the first day of the season that players can be promoted to the major leagues and still retain rookie status for 2026, and Adams said he expects Philadelphia to bring up the 21-year-old once that rookie cutoff date has passed. 

Unfortunately, making room for Crawford could mean the loss of a job for someone else on the roster, and Adams said there’s a pretty obvious candidate for that. 

“I imagine the Phillies will just DFA [Max] Kepler once they decide to bring Crawford up,” Adams surmised. “It hasn’t been a good fit. No one’s going to claim the rest of the contract, of course, so he’d be released in that scenario.” 

Simply put, it’s been a disastrous season in Philadelphia for the 32-year-old Kepler. Signed in December to a one-year, $10 million contract , Kepler struggled from the start, slashing .206/.296/.366 despite being given ample opportunity to get untracked as the team’s primary left fielder. 

But such is life in Major League Baseball. 

Dave Benson is a veteran writer with over three decades of journalism experience covering sports primarily in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Dave is also a licensed English teacher and spent several years teaching at the middle school level. More about Dave Benson