Nine innings of spring training baseball are rarely story-worthy.
The lineups shift. The innings are mapped out. Saturday’s 3–0 loss by the Philadelphia Phillies to the Toronto Blue Jays will fade quickly.
But specific moments linger.
Two of them — one promising, one complicated — shaped the Phillies’ afternoon.
The first belonged to Justin Crawford.
In his first at-bat of the spring, Crawford turned on a pitch and drove it into the gap for a double, a controlled swing that spoke to approach rather than adrenaline. He finished 2-for-3, looking comfortable and setting a professional tone atop the lineup.
Crawford didn’t overswing. He didn’t press. He stayed within the strike zone and used the field. For a 22-year-old prospect, that composure matters more than a line in a box score.
The second defining moment came in the sixth inning, when Nolan Hoffman’s outing unraveled — though not entirely on his own.
Hoffman struck out three hitters in his lone frame, flashing the swing-and-miss ability that has followed him throughout his minor-league career. But the inning extended when Carson DeMartini dropped a fly ball in foul territory.
From there, traffic mounted.
Hoffman was tagged for a two-run homer that stretched Toronto’s lead. The damage showed in the line — one inning, four hits, two earned runs — but the inning itself was more layered than the numbers suggest.
It’s a small sample size — 13 career spring innings entering this camp — yet big-league exhibitions have historically been uneven for Hoffman. He has struck out 18 batters in those innings, but also allowed 16 hits and carried a 6.92 ERA. Saturday mirrored that duality: the bat-missing ability is real, but the margin remains thin.
The dropped foul ball didn’t cause the homer. It did extend the inning. And in February, extended innings often reveal how pitchers respond when rhythm is disrupted.
Hoffman showed swing-and-miss stuff. He also paid for pitches left in damage areas.
Beyond that stretch, the Phillies’ pitching was largely steady. Six other arms combined for six scoreless innings, and defensively the club was mostly clean aside from the foul-territory miscue. For a team emphasizing sharper detail after recent postseason exits, that stability matters more than a spring scoreboard.
The game itself turned on a handful of pitches and one extended inning.
Nine innings of spring baseball rarely define anything.
But Crawford’s poise did.
Hoffman’s inning — complicated by a defensive lapse — did.
In February, that’s where the real evaluation begins.
Hoffman was tagged for a two-run homer that stretched Toronto’s lead. The damage showed in the line — one inning, four hits, two earned runs — but the inning itself was more layered than the numbers suggest.
It’s a small sample size — 13 career spring innings entering this camp — yet big-league exhibitions have historically been uneven for Hoffman. He has struck out 18 batters in those innings, but also allowed 16 hits and carried a 6.92 ERA. Saturday mirrored that duality: the bat-missing ability is real, but the margin remains thin.
The dropped foul ball didn’t cause the homer. It did extend the inning. And in February, extended innings often reveal how pitchers respond when rhythm is disrupted.
Hoffman showed swing-and-miss stuff. He also paid for pitches left in damage areas.
Beyond that stretch, the Phillies’ pitching was largely steady. Six other arms combined for six scoreless innings, and defensively the club was mostly clean aside from the foul-territory miscue. For a team emphasizing sharper detail after recent postseason exits, that stability matters more than a spring scoreboard.
The game itself turned on a handful of pitches and one extended inning.
Nine innings of spring baseball rarely define anything.
But Crawford’s poise did.
Hoffman’s inning — complicated by a defensive lapse — did.
In February, that’s where the real evaluation begins.
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