PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Justin Crawford was trying to make Thursday feel like any other game day.<\/p>\n
The 40 or so family members in attendance and the new outfield he was getting accustomed to at Citizens Bank Park made that a little more difficult. But on his MLB debut, the Phillies rookie center fielder tried as best he could to keep a sense that it\u2019s just another game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited,\u201d Crawford said before the Phillies opened the 2026 season against the Texas Rangers. \u201cDefinitely trying to hold it all in. Last night was pretty cool, family getting all in. So everyone\u2019s really excited, still trying to go about my business, trying to take it one step at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford isn\u2019t just a hyped rookie on whom hopes are pinned. He\u2019s one of the few avatars of change in a Phillies lineup mostly retained from last season\u2019s second straight National League East title and Division Series ouster.<\/p>\n
Since the end of the season, the Phillies have tempered fans\u2019 expectations of change by pointing to Crawford as a built-in alteration, young blood that would refresh from within. Crawford, who hit .334 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, had nothing left to prove in the minors.<\/p>\n
Rob Thomson professed since in October that Crawford would get every chance to show what he can do in the bigs. That started on Day 1 with Crawford hitting ninth and starting in center field.<\/p>\n
\u201cBringing Justin up is a huge deal,\u201d Thomson said. \u201cHe\u2019s excited today, I\u2019m sure, and I\u2019m excited for him, just to see him play on this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford has no shortage of potential advisers on the process, starting at home with father Carl Crawford, a veteran of 1,700 MLB games over 15 seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been giving me advice,\u201d Justin said. \u201cBut really just stay in the moment, enjoy it, play hard and control what you can control at the end of the day. It\u2019s the first one. Don\u2019t put too much pressure on yourself but go out there and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others in the locker room are excited to see Crawford get his shot. This veteran core has successfully integrated young players into the mix, and Crawford is one of the more talented such additions.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be yourself,\u201d said Bryce Harper on the occasion of his 15th Opening Day in the majors. \u201cI think that\u2019s the biggest thing whenever young guys get here, is just be yourself. Don\u2019t change. Obviously, they\u2019re here for a reason, and they\u2019ve done their job to get here. Looking forward to seeing him play every day, and he\u2019s going to be a special talent for us, and looking forward to see what he can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m living through him today a little bit,\u201d Brandon Marsh said. \u201cI\u2019m super excited, wish nothing but the best for him. The sky\u2019s the limit for him. He\u2019s going to bring a whole lot to this organization and this team. So I\u2019m super excited to watch him and all of us, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford has checked every box. The 17th overall pick in the 2022 draft has hit .322 in 325 games in the minors. He\u2019s stolen 40 or more bases in each of the last three seasons. He\u2019s proven in spring that he can handle major league pitching by going 13-for-52 (.250) with three doubles and three stolen bases.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a lot of at-bats,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cI felt comfortable in center, felt good swinging, everything felt good running. I feel good, excited to get out here and start playing some games that really matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
All that\u2019s left for the 22-year-old is to just go out there and do it. That was the calculus last year, when the Phillies felt him ready to contribute by late summer but couldn\u2019t guarantee him a steady enough supply of at-bats that it would be worth it for his long-term development.<\/p>\n
The offseason shuffle of personnel opened up time in center. He\u2019s going to get a chance to prove himself, and he knows that quest starts Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only get one debut, and to go out there and enjoy it,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody here has constantly told me they\u2019ve got my back, and we\u2019re really a family. So go out there, play my game and play hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Justin Crawford was trying to make Thursday feel like any other game day. The 40 or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,185,9898],"class_list":{"0":"post-645407","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-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-dtd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116297914338411874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645407","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=645407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}