5/16/25 : Winning Ways
- Steve Potter
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs won their 30th game of the season last night in just 42 games played. The previous fastest start for the IronPigs to reach 30 wins was in 2017 in 44 games. In 2023 the Clearwater Threshers won their 30th game in the 40th contest of the season. The ‘23 Threshers and the ‘25 IronPigs are the only two clubs since I’ve been writing about the Phillies player development system to achieve 30 wins at a better than 70 percent win pace.
Four players (Erick Brito, Justin Crawford, Otto Kemp, Gabriel Rincones Jr) were opening day members of both the ‘25 LHV and ‘23 CW teams, very much in the thick of each club’s core success. A fifth (Cade Fergus) was a regular in the lineup for the ‘23 Clearwater club and made a significant impact to this year’s IronPigs successes to date while he was there. Cade is now in Reading as the regular center fielder.
Since I started writing about the Phillies player development process in 2015 the two other full season clubs to 30 wins at an above 65 percent winning pace were the 2016 Reading team (30-15) and the 2024 Clearwater team (30-13). The 2016 Reading early season roster included future major leaguers Rhys Hoskins, JP Crawford, Roman Quinn, Dylan Cozens, Alec Asher, Ricardo Pinto, Jorge Alfaro, Severino Gonzalez, Ben Lively, Joely Rodriguez, Hoby Milner, Nick Pivetta,Yacksel Rios and Edubray Ramos. Many of them were also part of the LHV team that won 30 games in 44 contests played to begin the following year.
In Justin Crawford’s three seasons (‘23 to ‘25) where he began as a full season squad member his teams have produced a 184-123 (.599) winning record - while player development is primarily about individual skills I also believe that learning how to win is part of the process - the young man’s career batting average of .316 and OBP of .372 thus far are impressive but to me so are the game results when he’s been a member of each squad.
Justin Crawford’s team winning breakdown to date :
2023 Clearwater - 4/7 to 8/12 - 71-35
2023 Jersey Shore - 8/15 to 9/10 - 14-10
2024 Jersey Shore - 4/5 to 7/11 - 47-37
2024 Reading - 7/19 to 9/15 - 22-29
2025 Lehigh Valley - 3/28 to 5/15 - 30-12
As one who watches the minor leagues and the big club like it’s my religion (it actually is 😂) each day it’s a much more pleasant experience to see the organization win than lose, at the major league level it’s really all that matters - success is both earned and learned - as my buddy Cord Sandberg used to say “It’s all part of it”.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
Justin Crawford - Photo by Cheryl Pursell
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