Contact machine Jean Segura is ready to rumble in Philly

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Reporters didn’t need to track down a phone number for Jean Segura to get his reaction to the trade that sent him from the Seattle Mariners to the Phillies in early December.

All they had to do was look at Segura’s social media accounts.

Moments after the deal went down, a video of Segura appeared on the Internet. He was smiling and dancing.

Segura arrived in Phillies camp on Saturday morning. He was still smiling.

“I was more happy because I’m getting an opportunity to win,” he said of his initial reaction to the deal. “Seattle is over. Now I’m in Philly. I know for sure people are going to ask me what happened in Seattle. They had their problems. Every team has their problems. Now I’m with the Phillies and I’m looking forward.”

Segura spent the last two seasons as the Mariners' starting shortstop. He played well and even signed a five-year contract extension with the club in June 2017.

The Mariners were playing well at 24 games over .500 early last July but collapsed down the stretch and didn’t make the playoffs. Team chemistry suffered. The low point came in early September when Segura and teammate Dee Gordon were involved in a pre-game fistfight. After the season, the Mariners shipped a bunch of their high-priced talent out of town. The Phillies are Segura’s fourth team in five years.

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“I don’t like to fight,” Segura said. “There were a lot of people coming and saying I was the one fighting, but they don’t know what was going on. It’s over. I’m here now with new guys. I don’t want people to recognize that I’m a trouble guy in the clubhouse or a trouble guy on the team.

"I never intend to fight nobody in baseball. If a fight comes to you, you know, as a grown man, you’re not going to let it by. It’s simple. I don’t like to fight. I just want to be the best person I can be. I just want to continue moving forward as a person as a good teammate. I like to help guys, too. Help my teammates, especially now that I have a little bit of time in the big leagues.”

Segura said everything is good between him and Gordon now.

“We cool,” he said. “Brothers always fight. Sometimes you need to fight with your brother to be cool. I’m cool, man. I don’t like to fight. I’m cool. I’m a great guy. Maybe social media says different or you guys maybe. But if you get comfortable and talk to me about it you’ll see a different type of guy.”

Segura turns 29 in March. He is signed through 2022 and should be able to solidify shortstop for the Phillies until top prospect Luis Garcia is ready. Garcia, 18, led the Gulf Coast League in hitting (.369) and was third in on-base percentage (.433) last season. Those who've seen him play say he has the goods.

The Phillies needed to improve their offense after finishing last in the NL in hits (1,270) and batting average (.234) in 2018. In particular, they needed more production out of the shortstop position. Last season, their shortstops hit .235 with a .651 OPS. Those marks ranked 27th and 28th, respectively, in the majors.

Segura will provide a big lift. He is a contact machine who led the majors with 203 hits in 2016. Over the last three seasons, he has hit .308 (eighth-best in the majors) with a .803 OPS. His 538 hits are the seventh most in the majors over the last three seasons. His 75 stolen bases rank 11th over that span.

“I like to put the ball in play a lot because when you put the ball in play there’s a lot of opportunity to create runs, to get a base hit and be part of the game,” Segura said. “That’s one of my biggest things: put the ball in play and make a lot of contact. With my speed, a lot of things can happen.”

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