CLEARWATER, Fla. — It's assumed that Phillies catching prospect Andrew Knapp will begin the season at Triple A. In 55 games at Double A to end last season, he hit .360 with a .419 on-base percentage and .631 slugging percentage. He had multiple hits in 24 of those games and drove in more than a run per game.
All of that earned the 24-year-old switch-hitter an invite to major-league spring training this year, where he's just continued to rake. Knapp batted ninth as the designated hitter Sunday and went 1 for 3 with a three-run homer and a walk in the Phillies' 6-5 win over the Yankees. In three Grapefruit League games, Knapp is 4 for 7 with a double, homer, four RBIs and two walks.
He just continues to impress. He has Carlos Ruiz and Cameron Rupp in front of him … but what if he keeps hitting? Does he have a chance to win a spot on the opening day roster?
Manager Pete Mackanin has avoided those types of questions, saying numbers in the early portion of spring training don't mean a whole lot. But he's nonetheless impressed by what he's seen from the 2013 second-round pick.
"He's got a great swing from both sides of the plate," Mackanin said. "He looks like a hitter. He looks like he knows what he's doing from the left and right sides and it's good to see he's got some power."
This is the last year of Ruiz's contract and he's coming off a career-worst season, both offensively and defensively. But Chooch is still extremely well-respected in the Phillies' clubhouse and in baseball circles for his ability to call a game and work with pitchers. He's probably sticking around.
Cameron Rupp last season supplanted Ruiz on the depth chart by midseason and played well in the final two months, hitting .250/.331/.438 with six homers and 17 RBIs over his final 127 plate appearances.
MLB
But Rupp, a quality guy who's shown he can be a capable major-league backup catcher, is not really a piece of the Phillies' future. Knapp and big-time prospect Jorge Alfaro are.
Then again, that upside could delay Knapp's big-league debut. The Phillies know they won't be contending in 2016, so there's no real reason to rush Knapp to the majors and start the clock on his service time, even if he continues to hit in spring training.
The game
Charlie Morton started the game and was sharp in his first two innings, retiring six Yankees in a row on four groundouts, a soft flyout and a strikeout.
Morton, one of the more thoughtful big-leaguers you'll come across, talked after leaving the game about his career, how he remade himself to find an identity, his philosophy on pitching at different ballparks and what went wrong last season (see story).
Masahiro Tanaka made his spring debut for the Yankees in front of a sellout crowd at Bright House Field that also included a large contingent of Japanese media in the press box. He pitched two scoreless innings.
Knapp's three-run homer capped a six-run sixth inning for the Phillies.
Bullpen notes
Rule 5 left-hander Daniel Stumpf again pitched well, allowing one hit and striking out two over 1 2/3 innings. He did allow an inherited runner to score but stranded two others in the third inning.
Stumpf has five strikeouts in 3 2/3 scoreless innings so far this spring as he battles for a spot in the Phils' wide-open bullpen (see story).
Right-hander Ernesto Frieri came on with one out and runners on the corners in the seventh and got a strikeout and a weak, 0-2 foulout.
His second inning wasn't clean, but it wasn't really his fault. J.P. Crawford committed a pretty brutal error. Not brutal in that it mattered, because spring training scores don't, but it made Frieri throw many more pitches than he had to.
Frieri is looking to rebound after a few dismal seasons and rediscover the deception that made him so successful in the late innings in San Diego and Anaheim earlier in his career (see story).
More late-inning sloppiness
After allowing eight runs in the final two innings on a series of walks, hits and errors Friday, the Phillies struggled in the late innings again Sunday. The Yankees scored two in the seventh and two more in the eighth.
In that eighth inning, Crawford got a room-service hop at shortstop but tried to start the double play before fielding the ball and just missed it. It extended the inning and both of those runners wound up scoring on Austin Romine's double off Frieri.
Pitching probables
The fifth-starter battle continues Monday in Bradenton with Vincent Velasquez starting against the Pirates and lefty Brett Oberholtzer following.
Adam Morgan is set to start Tuesday and Andrew Bailey should make his second appearance.
Jeremy Hellickson starts Wednesday, and the pitching prospect trio of Zach Eflin, Jake Thompson and Mark Appel will pitch Thursday.