CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2014 Mike Easler says every great hitter needs a nickname. He already has one picked out for Justin Crawford.<\/p>\n
\u201cJ-Dawg,\u201d Easler said. \u201cD-A-W-G. That\u2019s gonna be his warrior name as he goes into the big leagues. When he hits, he gets down and dirty. Like a junkyard dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford is 22 years old and is expected to be the Phillies\u2019 everyday center fielder this season. He’ll be the club’s youngest regular since Jimmy Rollins in 2001.<\/p>\n
Carl Crawford, his father, was a Gold Glove outfielder and a six-time All-Star during his 15-year big-league career.<\/p>\n
The name fits. So does the moment.<\/p>\n
Easler, who hit .293 with over 1,000 hits across 14 seasons, is the man with the plan. A 75-year-old former All-Star living in Boynton Beach, Easler has long been known as \u201cHitman.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has been texting his analysis to Crawford before games and after at-bats since Justin attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had the pedigree,\u201d Easler said of the speedy outfielder then. \u201cHe just needed things put in place. Like a chiropractor of hitting \u2014 I just put things together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easler found Crawford the way he\u2019s found most of his best students \u2014 through another hitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Astros prospect Tyler Whitaker, a fellow Bishop Gorman product with whom Easler had been working since he was nine, brought Crawford to his gym during their junior year of high school. Easler just watched.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he first came, I never talked to him,\u201d Easler said. \u201cI just observed. I heard about him. I knew Carl Crawford. I knew his career and what a great player he was. I was just curious.\u201d<\/p>\n
That curiosity turned into something more that summer, when Crawford struggled at a tournament and called the phone number he got from Whitaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Mike, I\u2019m struggling. This is my senior year. Would you mind being my hitting coach?\u201d Easler recalled. \u201cAnd he couldn\u2019t see me, but I jumped through the wall [with excitement].\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford drove to Easler\u2019s facility every day after school. Easler doesn’t know if Crawford even had his driver’s license.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He showed up anyway, though.<\/p>\n
“He worked every single day during the season,” Easler said.<\/p>\n
He hit .490 in his senior year. All of that hard work paid off when he was drafted in the first round by the Phillies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a happy man when he got that call,\u201d Easler said. \u201cHappy, happy, happy man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWith the 17th overall selection in the 2022 MLB Draft, the Phillies have selected outfielder Justin Crawford from Bishop Gorman HS (NV). Crawford is the son of former All-Star Carl Crawford.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Crawford will tell you that growing up around his father\u2019s success wasn\u2019t always easy. Carl Crawford was one of the most dangerous baserunners of his generation. A standard like that can be hard to chase.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to be like him so much, almost to the point that it hurt me,\u201d Justin said. \u201cAs I got older and kind of learned to just be myself and play my game, our games became really similar. That\u2019s the player that I model my game after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between his father and Easler, Crawford\u2019s foundation is rooted in a bygone era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m old-fashioned, honestly,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cOld school works. It has for me, knock on wood. I stay away from the metrics. I\u2019m gonna stay with that. Mike is one of the best to do it, and I trust him with my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carl Crawford finished his career with the Dodgers. A young Justin used to wander into the manager\u2019s office there. That manager was Don Mattingly, now Philadelphia\u2019s bench coach, another lefty-swinging “Hitman” and former teammate of Easler\u2019s on the 1986 and 1987 Yankees.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing around those guys was really cool at that time, especially at that age,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cDon is a legend. Being able to be a sponge and soak up all the information \u2014 that\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFrom copying his dad’s MLB routine to becoming a Phillies 1st rounder, see the inspiring journey of Carl and Justin Crawford.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were playing, Mattingly was [the Hitman] in the American League,\u201d Easler said. \u201cI was the Hitman in the National League. So Justin\u2019s got the best of two worlds now.\u201d<\/p>\n
In only a few weeks of working with one another, Mattingly already knows what the Phils’ rookie can bring to the dish.<\/p>\n
“He’s always hit,” Mattingly said of Crawford. “You don’t miss guys like that. They figure it out.”<\/p>\n
Kevin Long, the Phillies\u2019 hitting coach, said he also noticed Crawford\u2019s identity right away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t care how he gets hits,\u201d Long said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t care if he hits a 15-hopper. He\u2019s not looking at exit velocity. He\u2019s not looking at his launch angle. He\u2019s looking at, \u2018How can I help the Phillies win games?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not been this confident about a rookie player in quite a while,\u201d Long said.<\/p>\n
When Crawford asked him who the last one was, Long didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobinson Can\u00f3.\u201d<\/p>\n
That’s high praise for Crawford. Can\u00f3 had one of the sweetest lefty strokes in baseball history, and the then-22-year-old batted .297 in his rookie campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crawford’s readiness at 22 is no accident. It\u2019s what happens when Easler has been in your corner since high school. His philosophy sounds simple until you try to execute it:<\/p>\n
Balance plus extension equals damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cStaying in my legs, staying to and through the ball, short and quick, with extension,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cThat\u2019s what Mike has instilled in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an equation he refined working with brand names like Mo Vaughn, Dante Bichette, Jim Edmonds and Matt Kemp across seven seasons as a big-league hitting coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vaughn won the AL MVP the year after they began working together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to observing Japanese stars during his two-season stint in Nippon Professional Baseball, Easler used to meticulously study Rod Carew\u2019s Sybervision series\u2014a silent film that dissected swing plane in stick figures\u2014frame by frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This allowed him to comprehend the body\u2019s intended movements before a hitter could experience them firsthand.<\/p>\n
With Crawford, the work centers on what Easler calls the “tuck-and-attack” \u2014 locking in the back leg so the swing stays connected through contact \u2014 and the follow-through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe follow-through is freedom,\u201d Easler said. \u201cOnce I get this follow-through down pat, that man\u2019s gonna be a force to be reckoned with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approach was on display once again in 2025. It marked Crawford’s third consecutive professional season with at least a .310 batting average, an .800 OPS and 40 stolen bases.<\/p>\n
Last year at Triple-A, Crawford hit .334 and went to the opposite field at a 43.3 percent clip. Since MLB began tracking the statistic in 2002, no left-handed hitter has done that in the bigs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all I told [Crawford],\u201d Easler said. \u201cThe only way you\u2019re gonna win batting titles is going the other way. With authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
His batting average on balls-in-play (BABIP) was above .400 \u2014 only two lefties have reached that threshold at the level since 2006.<\/p>\n
The last left-handed hitter to do so in the Majors was Carew back in 1977, en route to one of his seven batting titles.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to try to battle, put the ball in play any way I can, to try to cause some havoc,” he said. “Especially with my speed \u2014 they get the ball, rush it, throw it. Next thing you know it, I’m on second base. I take a lot of pride in being a tough out.”<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBryce Harper, Adolis Garcia and Brandon Marsh spoke on playing with Justin Crawford thus far in spring training.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Crawford would finish as the International League batting champion, but after not earning a September call-up to the Phillies’ crowded outfield, Easler pulled Crawford aside and told him something he needed to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Justin, it\u2019s not time,\u2019\u201d Easler recalled. \u201c\u2018It\u2019s not about your average… I\u2019m not here to candy-coat anything with you, because I want you to be great, not good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That conversation put a chip on Crawford\u2019s shoulder, but he’s set up for success entering 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re playing with Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber,\u201d Easler told Crawford. \u201cThese guys are set in stone of greatness. You go there, feel what they feel, do what they do. Be yourself. You are gonna make the biggest difference in the world with that ball club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattingly sees it similarly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part of him being here is he\u2019s in a lineup where he can just do his thing,\u201d Mattingly said. \u201cIf he can go out and get his hits, play good defense, steal some bags, do what he\u2019s always done \u2014 then he\u2019s gonna fit in perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Away from the field, Crawford enjoys movies like\u00a0Gladiator\u00a0and\u00a0300.<\/p>\n
Stories about warriors who battle to the end. That theme rings true to his own goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cA championship,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cJust trying to go out there, help the team any way I can. The ultimate goal is to win the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Easler doesn\u2019t hide what he thinks is possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want Justin to help lead the Phillies to the 2026 World Series,\u201d he said. \u201cThe rest will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hitman built the plan. Now J-Dawg has to execute it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEARWATER, Fla. \u2014 Mike Easler says every great hitter needs a nickname. He already has one picked out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-628384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116245404527824615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}