ALLENTOWN, PA. – The Phillies made their annual winter caravan stop in the Lehigh Valley. Leading the Phils contingent – Preston Mattingly, Tom McCarthy and Rob Thomson.
“It’s always fun to come to a minor league ballpark, especially our affiliate. We know how much the city and the organization does for our players so, it’s just appreciation.” Said Rob Thomson.
That minor league affiliate, the IronPigs, saw four key young players don the uniform last season who are certainly on the big club’s radar.
Thomson added, “I love the fact that we’re going to inject some youth into our ball cub this year with, hopefully, Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, Aidan Miller’s right on his way. Gabriel Rincones Jr. is right around the corner. Those guys bring a lot of energy and they kind of light up those veterans at times.”
Preston Mattingly stated, “Last year, getting to see Aidan Miller touch this level, Justin Crawford obviously had a great year, and I think Andrew Painter’s a guy we’ve talked about a lot. Didn’t have the year he wanted to, but I think there’s a big bounce-back year coming for him as well.”
As for the veterans, Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto are both back with the club after re-signing as free agents.
Mattingly continued, “They’ve been a big part of what we’re doing, both of those guys. Not only on the field, but in the clubhouse. From the fans standpoint, guys that fans let us know that they wanted to have back. I’ve only been here since 2022 but those two have been a big part of winning here with the Philadelphia Phillies and we want to continue that moving forward.”
Pitchers and catchers have their first official workout on February 11th in Clearwater.