Phillies' Justin Crawford has an inexplicable problem
These numbers just don't add up.
Phillies' Justin Crawford has an inexplicable problem originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Justin Crawford has a problem.
He's fast, but he's a terrible centerfielder. The Philadelphia Phillies gave Crawford their Opening Day job out there in the hopes that the whole package would come together. Instead, the metrics are almost opposite one another.
This chart below shows that Crawford is one of the fastest players in the league while also being one of the worst defenders in the league, too: There is no reason for an outfielder this fast to be THIS bad defensively https://t. co/sB1TnPtIfG pic. twitter.
com/SWtDBkmqJf ā AT (@BaseballWRLD_) May 11, 2026 Clearly, playing the outfield is about more than speed. But it's still quite the contract. Justin's father, Carl, was never a great fielder, which is why he spent most of his career in left field despite usually being the fastest player on his team.