John Mallee

Phillies’ Scott Kingery goes deep on changes at the plate after 2018 horror show

by Scott Lauber, Updated: February 22, 2019

CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Scott Kingery was finally able to stomach seeing video from the horror movie that was his rookie season, he saw an out-of-control swing that did more slashing than Michael Myers and opposing pitchers who salivated at the sight of him walking to the plate, like Hannibal Lechter over a dish of liver and fava beans.

The real fright, though, came from a plate approach that was as mangled as Freddy Krueger’s face.

Kingery was an aggressive hitter at the University of Arizona and coming up in the Phillies’ farm system. But his major-league debut last year, which followed a sensational spring training and a $24 million contract extension, also coincided with the arrival of new manager Gabe Kapler and hitting coach John Mallee, who preach a “selective-aggressive” style. The idea: a) know your strengths as a hitter; b) attack only the pitches that are tailored to those strengths; c) lay off all the others.

Looking back, perhaps Kingery didn’t truly understand his own abilities. Or maybe, in his first exposure to the big leagues, the game was moving quickly. It probably didn’t help that the Phillies were using him at three infield positions and three outfield spots in a utility role that represented an adjustment for a 24-year-old second baseman who had all of 63 games of experience in triple A.

“I kind of got thrown into the fire,” Kingery conceded this week.

Regardless, after two relatively solid weeks, Kingery fell into a slump that only deepened. One thing led to another, and pretty soon he felt as lost as he looked en route to finishing the season as one of baseball’s worst hitters.

Of the 214 major leaguers who got at least 400 plate appearances last season, Kingery ranked 209th in on-base plus slugging percentage (.605) and 213th in Wins Above Replacement (-1.4), and struck out in 27.9 percent of his at-bats. He didn’t fare any better in the advanced metrics that Phillies officials value so highly, ranking 210th in both weighted on-base average (.263) and weighted runs created (62).

“When your swing’s not feeling good, you tend to have maybe one spot that you think you can get to a pitch,” Kingery said. “And then when that pitch is there, even if it’s a pitch that’s hittable, you don’t want to swing at it because the way your swing feels, you’re not going to be able to do anything with that pitch. That, combined with trying to see more pitches, it was just a combination of everything.

“There are so many factors that played into everything that happened last year. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing. It was a learning experience and something that obviously I need to fix and work on. You live and you learn.”

Kingery took a few weeks off after the season, then went out to southern California to train with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and several other players represented by PSI Sports Management. One aspect of those workouts was another chance to consult Richard Schenck, a St. Louis-based hitting coach. Schenck helped Kingery’s agent, Dave Matranga, late in his career and has been working with Judge, Kingery and others for several years.

Through Matranga, Schenck declined an interview request in October. Matranga didn’t respond to a message this week. But Kingery said it was a comfort to work with Schenck again and regain the swing that enabled him to rocket through the Phillies organization after being drafted in the second round in 2015.