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The numbers
.266/.324/.396, 242 PA, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 5.8 BB%, 24.8 K%, 0.9 fWAR
The good
I think it’s easy to say that the defense Adam Haseley provided this past season was better than originally advertised.
Adam Haseley MLB Defensive Highlights pic.twitter.com/KcZJ9XbXgj
— PHI Prospect BurnerAcct (@PBurneracct) September 14, 2019
These plays are just some of the highlights that Haseley provided while in the major leagues. If you continue a Twitter search, you’ll see that he made others that fans caught while in the minor leagues as well. The defense was good enough that it pushed him into the positive WAR territory according to Fangraphs.
The bat wasn’t horrible! It was an “ok” batting average and a decent enough strikeout rate for a rookie that wasn’t exactly known for having a big hit tool.
The bad
The bat, though not horrible, still wasn’t that good. The average isn’t bad, but the slugging percentage suggests that it was mostly an empty batting average. It’s not something that we’ll likely see grow either, as many of the prospect reports on Haseley prior to 2019 suggested he’d have average power at his peak. In this age of home runs and strike outs, having only one of them doesn’t project as an above average player.
You’d also like to think that the team would be willing to give him to centerfield job headed into 2020, but the fact that the general manager still has wishes and dreams of Roman Quinn supplanting him has to mean that they still aren’t that high on what Haseley can be at the major league level.
The future
It is interesting though that Klentak did come out and state that he expects Haseley to be the regular centerfielder come Opening Day.
Klentak says he expects Adam Haseley to be the Phillies’ regular center fielder. When Roman Quinn is healthy and playing to his potential, he’s an option too. Klentak sees Haseley and Quinn getting most of the reps in CF.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) December 11, 2019
Whether he can make an offensive jump this season depends on how high his ceiling is, but it is fair to expect that he’ll be better in 2020. He was, after all, a first round draft pick. You’d expect that he would be able to improve since he has the pedigree. If he isn’t able to get better though, and Roman Quinn is hurt, the team would then have to move Scott Kingery there. That might work if Alec Bohm is ready and could ultimately be the master plan of the organization. If that happens, we could see Haseley turn into an interesting trade piece come the deadline.
Even still, if an upgrade presents itself between now and Opening Day, the team would be wise to take it if the price is right. We’ll just have to wait and see.