Can I be honest with you? I can? Ooh, ain’t you a real sweet’ums! Letting little ol’ me be honest with big bad you! Who do you think you are? I can be honest with whomever I want to be! How dare you police my honesty! A real God complex on you! Okay, so, if I can be honest with you, I’m mostly mostest mostiest Mosty Mosty Most Mr. Most excited for Justin Crawford. I love him this guy so much. Difference maker gets thrown around a lot. I’ve said “difference maker” in the past about Jordan Walker, Adalberto Mondesi, Delino DeShields Jr., Josh Rutledge–Maybe I should stop throwing that phrase around. I can’t help look at Justin Crawford and see a guy who might be a top 20 bat as soon as he’s called up. His biggest problem is he might be better for fantasy than real baseball. See, there’s this chasm between real and fantasy baseball. In that ravine, lives guys like Adalberto Mondesi, Delino DeShields Jr.–Okay, let’s let those guys go. The ravine is a geographic location that is best defined by guys who have elite fantasy skills, usually steal a lot of bags, and either have no place to play, can’t play defense or some other detraction to one’s ability to get at-bats. Can’t hit the broadside of a barn but runs like a goose being chased by a beaver — Billy Hamilton, Mondesi! Can’t stay healthy — Nick Senzel, Alex Kirilloff! Can’t freakin’ swing up — Jordan Walker! Can’t stop eating — Sixto Sanchez! There’s a lot of reasons why the prospect pedigree fails for some guys, but Justin Crawford seems too good to fail, which does make me sus, as the kids say. So, what can we expect from Justin Crawford for 2026 fantasy baseball?
First, what Itch said, “I’ve been comparatively high on Crawford for a long time because I struggle to imagine a scenario where this guy fails to be valuable in our game. A left-handed hitter at 6’2” 188 pounds, he hasn’t elevated the ball much yet in his career, but that’s coming, and in the meantime he’s hitting well over .300 at every rung of the organizational ladder. In his final 52 games of the season, Crawford slashed .340/.418/.492 with six home runs, 20 stolen bases and a 16.7 percent strikeout rate. The math I’m trying to silence in my brain is of course not how baseball works, but if you multiply that by three, you get a glimpse at Crawford’s potential across 156 games. I will now sit in a tree outside Grey’s house with a hammer.” What? C’mon, man!
Second, you have to see the burners:
It runs in the family ?
Phillies No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford shows off his elite speed at #SpringBreakout! pic.twitter.com/YIyqdnl06I
— MLB (@MLB) March 14, 2025
That’s a fun video. I used it because you’ll be shocked at how few people film guys stealing bags. Or maybe you’d expect that since there’s usually just amateur videographers at MiLB games and they’re invariably focused on batters. With that said, here’s him hitting a donger:
Top 100 prospect Justin Crawford brings home the bacon, swatting a two-run shot for the @IronPigs ?
The @Phillies‘ 2022 first-rounder is up to 43 multihit games this season and leads the Triple-A International League with a .333 AVG: pic.twitter.com/guKx2cRnzt
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 29, 2025
He’s special. He’s his daddy’s kid. If you’re old as crap like me, you remember Carl Crawford was a perennial 1st rounder because of speed and some pop and great average. That’s his son too — 88/7/47/.334/46 in 440 ABs in Triple-A. I’ve said this before, but no one should have 440 ABs at Triple-A with great stats, and those are great stats. They should be promoted quicker than that. Any hoo! He wasn’t but he turns 22 in January, and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t break camp with the Phils. They have really dragged their heels on him though (which is why I didn’t do an Aidan Miller outlook post, and won’t be — feels like next year for Miller), so I don’t want to get too excited, but Crawford feels like the best prospect in 2026 fantasy redraft leagues if he gets 500 ABs. He feels undeniable. He’s Chandler Simpson with a bit more pop. He’s Chandler Simpson with an MLB pop, actually. Call him Carl Crawford. For 2026 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Justin Crawford projections of 57/5/39/.283/34 in 403 ABs with a chance for much more or less if the ABs aren’t there.
