As the full Phillies squad reports to Clearwater, Florida, we’re back to bring you another round of number-crunching goodness! Philadelphia opens their Grapefruit League season this weekend with a road game in Lakeland, Florida, against Detroit, followed by their return to BayCare Park to battle Baltimore on Sunday to kick start A LOT of springtime baseball in Florida and Arizona.
Phillies by Numbers
1—Only one city, Fort Myers, can claim the honor of hosting two baseball clubs for spring training in South Florida. The Lee Health Sports Complex has hosted the Minnesota Twins since 1991. A new ballpark opened in the area in 2012 as JetBlue Park at Fenway South became the new home of the Bronx Bo…. ok, ok, home of the Boston Red Sox, who play at the legendary Fenway Park (North?) in Massachusetts just a mere 1,466 miles up I-95.
2—The number of days without a Spring Training game scheduled through March 24. The only days listed without a game are Monday, 3/3, and Wednesday, 3/12. That’s 31 days full of being upset with ball and strike calls before the real madness begins. Let’s just hope they can send some of that warm sunshine to the Tri-State area next month!
3—The top three prospects in the Phillies organizational pipeline were invited to camp this spring. Infielder Aiden Miller (#1), right-hander Andrew Painter (#2), and outfielder Justin Crawford (#3). Dave Dombrowski’s plan for the highly touted Painter does not involve him pitching any games during Spring Training despite the pitcher’s appearance at big league camp. It is the first invitation to major league camp for the 21-year-old Miller and 20-year-old Crawford. The duo of fielders finished last season with Double-A Reading.
5—MLB appearances for Phillies pitcher Nabil Crismatt with the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers last season. Crismatt is the expected starter for the Phillies in their first Spring Training contest against Baltimore on Saturday. The Columbian righty has a 3.71 ERA over 177 innings during a five-year career. The majority of those innings came in San Diego with a 3.83 ERA over 159.2 innings of work between 2021 and 2023.
6—Miles between Philadelphia’s BayCare Stadium complex and its nearest neighbor, the Toronto Blue Jays TD Ballpark facility in Dunedin, Florida. It’s approximately a 20-minute Uber ride between the locations. Public transportation can get you the handful of miles you need in about an hour. For the truly dedicated, it’s a walkable two-hour hike between Dunedin and Clearwater.
8—Number of stadiums hosting Florida’s Grapefruit League action. Four teams share a location for games in the panhandle state—Miami/St. Louis shares Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, while the Houston/Washington splits CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches. The remaining teams operate out of their own locations in South Florida—Atlanta (CoolToday Park), Baltimore (Ed Smith Stadium), Boston (JetBlue Park), Detroit (Joker Marchant Stadium), Minnesota (Hammond Stadium), New York Mets (Clover Park), New York Yankees (George M. Steinbrenner Field), Pittsburgh (LECOM Park), Tampa Bay (Charlotte Sports Park), and Toronto (T.D. Ballpark)—are the names you will likely see and hear alongside Philadelphia’s BayCare Ballpark this spring.
10—Number of stadiums hosting Arizona’s Cactus League games. Only five teams in the Cactus League have their stadium: the Chicago Cubs (Sloan Park), Los Angeles Angels (Tempe Diablo Stadium), Milwaukee (American Family Fields of Phoenix), San Francisco (Scottsdale Stadium), and Oakland (Hohokam Stadium). The other five stadiums share double duty: San Diego/Seattle (Peoria Sports Complex), Texas/Kansas City (Surprise Stadium), Los Angeles Dodgers/Chicago White Sox (Camelback Ranch-Glendale), Cleveland/Cincinnati (Goodyear Ballpark), and Arizona/Colorado (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick).
23—Number of non-roster invitations to Phillies Training Camp. Twelve infielders and 11 pitchers combine to complete the initial list. Eight of the 27 players are ranked prospects in the Phillies system, with the highest-prized prospects being Miller (#1), Painter (#2), Crawford (#3), and Gabriel Rincones Jr. (#10). The tenth-ranked prospect, Rincones, hit .273 with 2 HR and 9 RBIs in the Arizona Fall League. He also swiped nine bases over 22 games.
31—Total games the Phillies will play over 33 days in the Florida Grapefruit League. With 63 players at the start of camp, there should be plenty of fresh bodies to rotate in and out of the lineup. While MLB opportunities are limited when looking at the Phillies depth chart, a good performance can go a long way for a player to put themselves in a good position in the event of an injury or a trade later in the season.
66—Number of home games at BayCare Park for the Clearwater Threshers. The minor league club plays a 132-game schedule, with half of their dates based at the Phillies Snowbird home. Many of the facilities used for MLB Spring Training will host minor league baseball throughout the summer, including the neighboring facility with the Dunedin Blue Jays. If you enjoy some unique hardball names, check out the Single A-Florida State League for squads like the Mighty Mussels, the Flying Tigers, and the Marauders. The Hammerheads won their first Florida State League Championship last season.
Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
