Justin

Crawford

Sosa was removed from Wednesday’s game due to a groin injury that he aggravated while hustling out an infield single. He’ll start at third base and bat seventh for the Phillies on Thursday evening. Bryan De La Cruz will start in left field in place of Brandon Marsh. Here’s the full lineup that the Phillies will use against Braves’ opener Ray Kerr to start Thursday’s game: Trea Turner (SS), Kyle Schwarber (DH), Bryce Harper (RF), Alec Bohm (1B), Bryson Stott (2B), Bryan De La Cruz (LF), Edmundo Sosa (3B), J.T. Realmuto (C) and Justin Crawford (CF).

Crawford broke the game open with a bases-loaded triple in the eighth inning to give the Phillies a 7-2 cushion. The rookie now has 41 RBI on the season to go along with a .265/.312/.358 slash line. He plays good defense and will remain a solid contributor for the Phillies, but there isn’t a lot of fantasy upside apart from his 16 stolen bases. Perhaps he can take another step offensively in 2027.

Crawford will get a night of rest against the Halos. Derek Hill — who had been dealing with neck stiffness — will be in center and hit ninth against Reid Detmers and the Angels.

He missed Friday and Saturday with the injury before the All-Star break, and sat Sunday as well though he debatably wouldn’t have played against a left-handed starter either way. There’s no real fantasy value for Crawford at this point as he’s hitting just .263/.312/.353 with 12 stolen bases, but it’s good to see him back in the lineup.

It’s the third straight game that Crawford has missed due to soreness in his left knee. Even if he were healthy though, it’s likely that he would have sat against Tigers’ left-hander Tarik Skubal on Sunday, especially with Derek Hill terrorizing his former club through the first two games of the series. Hill will start in center field and bat eighth for the Phillies on Sunday afternoon in Motown.

Derek Hill makes his second straight start in center field while Crawford receives some extra time off to address left knee soreness. The 22-year-old rookie has hit .263/.312/.353 with two homers and 12 steals in 287 plate appearances through 88 games.

The issue isn’t believed to be major and the 22-year-old outfielder is considered day-to-day. Derek Hill will start in his place in center field on Friday evening against Jack Flaherty and the Tigers at Comerica Park.

Crawford hit a two-run homer off the Rockies’ Jimmy Herget on May 8. That might not seem particularly notable or relevant here, but that was his only multi-RBI game in his rookie season before he drove in three runs with two singles tonight. He now has 19 RBI to go along with a .256/.308/.347 line in 260 plate appearances on the year.

Crawford matched a season-high with three hits and picked up his ninth stolen base of the season in this one. The 22-year-old former prospect expanded Philadelphia’s early lead by smacking an RBI single into shallow center field against Marlins starter Ryan Gusto in the third inning. His placement near the bottom of Philadelphia’s lineup puts a lid on his realistic fantasy upside, but he has a chance to finish his rookie campaign with roughly 20-25 steals, which probably matters in deeper mixed leagues and NL-only formats.

Crawford has started to get the green light more over the past couple of weeks -- he’s now up to eight stolen bases in 56 games, which isn’t nothing. The two-hit attack ups his line to .232/.295/.339. He’d probably need to start stealing much more to be a fantasy baseball factor, but his defense and speed seem to have assured his lineup spot for the time being.