Why Adam Haseley must be the Phillies’ starting CF next season

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The debate has been going on for about 2 weeks now. Should the Phillies try and re-sign Corey Dickerson? Several issues come up in this discussion.

Firstly, the Phillies already have several outfielders under control. Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Bryce Harper, Adam Haseley, and partly Scott Kingery are all under control in 2020. There would be little room for Dickerson. Secondly, Corey Dickerson has injury history. This season alone Dickerson has missed games due to shoulder, groin, hand, and foot injuries. Currently, he’s dealing with a bruised navicular bone in his left foot.

The biggest issue is that rookie Adam Haseley has shown too much potential in 2019 to waste in 2020.

In 51 games and 179 plate appearances, Adam Haeley has slashed .268/.330/.421. Specifically, September has been huge for him. He’s slashed .333/.438/.667 in 10 games. In the last game against the Braves, Haseley walked twice but also hit a huge 2-run shot off of Julio Teheran.

It isn’t his offense that makes him so valuable. Haseley has shown prolific defensive abilities. In just his past 10 days, he’s put hitters on notice. “Hit it to me and check out this 5-star play”.

In Cincinnati against the Reds, Haseley first showed us “what that glove do” when he made this catch. Not only did he rob a home run, but he tried to fool everyone watching. That was in center field.

We now go to right field during the Mets series. The Mets were threatening with bases loaded until Haseley made this catch. It would serve a 1-0 lead for the Phillies at the time.

We head into left field in the Braves series and of course Adam Haseley is making headline plays again. He made this catch with only a 10% catchability rate, according to Statcast.

Same position, different night as Adam Haseley seems to have not fear in the outfield. This time he takes away a single and them doubles off Brian McCann at 2nd base to end the inning.

According to FanGraphs, Haseley has already recorded 7 defensive runs saved, 3 in left, 3 in center, and 1 in right.

His defense alone should make him a lock for the 2020 Phillies outfield.

Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports