IronPigs' Crawford falls homer short of cycle

Four-hit game raises Phillies top prospect's July OPS to 1.104

J.P. Crawford has raised his batting average 41 points since June 9. (Ken Inness/MiLB.com)

By Michael Leboff

July 22, 2017

On June 9, J.P. Crawford was hitting .189 and sported a .560 OPS. With each passing game, it looked more likely that 2017 wasn't going to be the year for the Phillies' top prospect. Not so fast.Crawford has come to life in July, recording a 1.104 OPS. His hot streak continued

On June 9, J.P. Crawford was hitting .189 and sported a .560 OPS. With each passing game, it looked more likely that 2017 wasn't going to be the year for the Phillies' top prospect.
Not so fast.
Crawford has come to life in July, recording a 1.104 OPS. His hot streak continued Saturday with his first four-hit game of the year in Triple-A Lehigh Valley's 9-1 win over Durham.

"I'm slowing everything down at the plate," Crawford told MiLB.com earlier this month. "I'm seeing the ball and trying to not do too much and go back to my old approach. It's been working so I just have to keep trying to get better every day and stick to that approach."

Gameday box score
Nearly six weeks ago, Crawford had a .189/.311/.249 slash line. In 30 games since then, MLB.com's No. 4 overall prospect is hitting .302/.386/.586 with six homers and 19 RBIs.
"My confidence will never go down, that's just the way I was raised growing up," Crawford said. "I'm never going to get down on myself because I know the hits are going to come eventually. I just have to put in the work every day."
Batting second, Crawford started his night with a single to right on a 3-2 pitch from starter Michael Roth (0-3). The 2013 first-round pick roped an RBI double to left field in the second. In the fifth, Crawford lined a single to right for his second straight three-hit game.
After falling behind 0-2 against Chih-Wei Hu in the seventh, the Long Beach, California, native ripped a triple to right field for his first four-hit game since June 7, 2015 with Double-A Reading.
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Crawford's bid for the cycle ended when he struck out leading off the ninth. It was the third time in his last 30 at-bats that the 2013 first-round pick went down on strikes.

In 85 games this year, Crawford has a .230/.338/.372 slash line with eight homers and 40 RBIs.
Rhys Hoskins' two-run homer in the first tied him with teammate Dylan Cozens and Columbus' Richie Shaffer for the International League lead. Cozens broke the deadlock with a two-run blast in the ninth, his 23rd of the season.

Phillies No. 30 prospect Andrew Pullin had three singles for the IronPigs.

Michael Leboff is a contributor to MiLB.com.