Phillies-Mets Thoughts: 25 Games With a Prospect-packed Lineup

Phillies (52-85) at Mets (59-78)
7:10 p.m. on CSN; streaming live on CSNPhilly.com and the NBC Sports App

Four years and three months after being drafted in the middle of the first round by the Phillies, J.P. Crawford is set for his major-league debut.

Crawford will arrive in the majors Tuesday as the Phillies continue their three-game series at Citi Field against the Mets.

Crawford will see some time at shortstop and third base as the Phillies gauge his readiness for 2018. It will help them evaluate their crowded infield this winter to figure out who needs to be traded. After all, it seems very unlikely that by the midpoint of 2018, all of Freddy Galvis, Maikel Franco, Cesar Hernandez, Crawford and Scott Kingery are in the same organization.

• It shouldn't be difficult to guess who leads the Phillies in pitches seen per plate appearance. It's Rhys Hoskins at 4.48. The closest player to him is Cameron Rupp at 4.14.

Hoskins on Monday went 0 for 3 but walked twice and saw 35 pitches in the five plate appearances. Even when he's not hitting for power, he provides value by working deep counts and taking his walks. Hoskins is hitting .307 with a .419 OBP and has 15 walks to 18 strikeouts. 

You really have to go back to Jayson Werth in 2010 to find the last Phillie who had both power and plate selection.

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Ben Lively makes start No. 11 of his rookie season. He's 2-5 with a 4.22 ERA and 1.38 WHIP, but he's allowed three earned runs or less in eight of his 10 starts. In half of the 10 starts, he's allowed two earned runs or less.

Lively last faced the Mets on June 30 at Citi Field and allowed two runs over 6⅓ innings in a 2-1 Phillies loss. 

Lively's avoidance of the home run ball has allowed him to have success recently. He's allowed four homers in his last five starts but all four of them were in the same game against the Cubs. When you're not giving up home runs and you're limiting the walks, you can get away with having middling stuff. 

• The Phillies have quite a challenge ahead of them tonight in Mets ace Jacob deGrom. If Crawford starts tonight, he'll be debuting against deGrom just like Hoskins did in August.

In 10 career starts against the Phillies, deGrom is 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA and .203 opponents' batting average. He's struck out 68, walked 12 and allowed just four homers in 64⅓ innings.

In a season where everything has gone wrong for the Mets, deGrom has been the silver lining. He's 14-8 with a 3.43 ERA and has already set a career high with 206 strikeouts.

• The Phillies are 22-49 against the Mets since 2014. That .310 winning percentage is their second-worst against any NL opponent over that span. They're 8-20 (.286) vs. the Pirates.

• The Phillies have to like what they've seen offensively the last few weeks from Jorge Alfaro. After yet another hard-hit single up the middle on Monday, Alfaro is hitting .340 through 56 plate appearances this season.

Nick Williams is 5 for 29 over his last seven games but did drive in five runs Saturday and Sunday in Miami.

In 58 games, Williams has hit .271 with 23 extra-base hits, 35 RBIs and an .800 OPS. Practically any knowledgeable Phillies fan would have signed up for those numbers when Williams was called up on June 30.

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