Justin Crawford is one of the top prospects in the Phillies system. (Cheryl Pursell)
CLEARWATER, Fla. — In his 60th Spring Training, Phillies legend Larry Bowa finds himself intrigued by two players in camp trying to earn their first call-up to the majors — Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford.
Bowa —who turned 80 in December — continues to be able to hit grounders to major leaguers. It's one of the great sights every year in Clearwater, and this season one of the guys he and infield coach Bobby Dickerson are really working with is Aidan Miller.
Miller is a natural shortstop, and has gotten many of his early-spring reps at that position. However, Trea Turner will arrive at camp on Sunday, and he bought himself at least another year at shortstop with a bounce-back defensive season a year ago. So Miller will also be taking reps at third base this spring, as that position may offer the 21-year-old his most immediate path to the majors. Some second base reps could be sprinkled in as well, though Rob Thomson said earlier this week that Miller will primarily get looks at shortstop and third base this spring.
Bowa has come away very impressed with Miller, who also stole 59 bases and posted an .825 OPS in a 2025 season he spent primarily at Double-A Reading.
"Pretty good," Bowa said of Miller. "He's gonna be, baring injuries ... I don't like to say 'can't miss,' but if he progresses the way [we hope], he's gonna be special."
Miller probably isn't a candidate to make the Opening Day roster, with the expectation being that the infield will be made up of Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott/Edmundo Sosa, Turner and Alec Bohm to begin the season. But Miller will certainly have the chance to kick down the door at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, particularly if he takes the work Bowa is now assisting him with and proves flexible defensively.
🎙️Larry Bowa talks secrets to his longevity, Aidan Miller and Justin Crawford w/ @TimKellySports pic.twitter.com/WniZEuS8hp
Crawford, meanwhile, is expected to be the Opening Day center fielder if he has a strong spring. Bowa isn't doing defensive work with him, but is nonetheless impressed by the 22-year-old.
In fact, he's already envisioning the damage Crawford — who stole 46 bases a year ago for the Triple-A IronPigs — could do on the basepaths in tandem with Turner.
"I've watched him for two years — he can hit. He can hit," Bowa said. "Now, is gonna hit a lot of home runs? Probably at the beginning, no. But he puts the ball in play, he can run. He runs fly balls down. Good baserunner. I don't know what our lineup is going to be, but if he hits nine or at the top ... if you have him nine and Trea [Turner] one, man, you can create some havoc out there."
Crawford, a first-round pick in 2022, hit .334 as a 21-year-old during a full season at Triple-A a year ago. Bowa knows that there are some skeptics of Crawford's success translating to the majors because he had a 59.4% ground ball rate a year ago. Bowa isn't worried.
"You're exactly right, that's what they are saying," Bowa said. "But to me, I played with guys who could run. And [if] those guys make a shortstop go to their right, don't even throw it. And in two pitches, he could be on third base.
"So I'm not on that plan. I think he's gonna get bigger and stronger. I've seen him hit home runs to left-center field. But to say go up and hit home runs, I don't think we're gonna do that. I think we're gonna say, 'Hey, do your thing.' Every year he hits over .300, I don't know what more he can do. He starts off a little slow because of the weather and everything, but before the season is over, there's a three in front of that somewhere."
