READING — Amidst all the talk of the Reading Fightin Phils’ talented pitching rotation, Roman Quinn reminded everyone of something important about baseball.
“If you don’t score runs, you don’t win games,” Quinn said at the club’s media day Tuesday. “If we score runs, we have a real good chance.”
Yes, lost in the shuffle of the majority of Philadelphia’s pitching future starting this season at Double-A Reading is how the Fightin Phils can improve on last year’s dismal run-producing performance.
Reading finished last in the 12-team Eastern League last season in runs scored, tallying 558 in 142 games (just under four per game).
Quinn is here to help.
Ranked as the No. 7 prospect in the Philadelphia Phillies organization by Baseball America, Quinn is coming off an impressive 2014 season with Single-A Clearwater.
The 5-foot-10 speedster had 84 hits and scored 51 runs while stealing a team-leading 32 bases.
This year, he’ll be leading off the Reading batting order.
“I’m very comfortable there,” Quinn said. “I love leading off. I love getting it started for the team and getting myself in scoring position for the guys behind me.”
One of those guys will be another Clearwater call-up, Art Charles.
Towering at 6-6, 220 pounds, Charles led the Threshers last year in home runs (19), runs scored (60), hits (102) and RBIs (54). His runs and hits totals were both tied with Brian Pointer, who is also in Reading to start this season.
“We do have a tremendous pitching staff and our defense is going to be really great, but we need to score runs to win games,” Charles said. “We have great hitters, as well. Our offense is going to put up some good numbers. I believe we’re going to score a lot of runs, get hits, get guys in situationally.”
Scoring runs situationally loosely translates to manufacturing runs, which both Charles and Reading manager Dusty Wathan said the Fightin Phils did better during the spring.
“We got a bunch of guys that are going to grind out at-bats,” Wathan said. “We’ll hit some home runs just because of the ballpark. I don’t really foresee us hitting a ton of home runs. I don’t see anybody hitting 30 home runs, but hopefully somebody shocks me.
“We got a little power there,” Wathan added. “For the most part, you’re going to see us aggressive on the bases, hitting and running, moving runners and scoring runs that way.”
Some of that power will come from Aaron Altherr, who hit 14 home runs and had 57 RBIs for Reading last season before a brief stint in Philadelphia. Cameron Perkins will also be starting the season with the Fightin Phils after he had 51 RBIs between Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley last year.
Brock Stassi and Carlos Alonso each had 44 RBIs apiece in 2014, as well.
But getting some added firepower from Charles would be a huge boost. However, it’ll take some work.
“If you look at his numbers, there’s some swing-and-miss in there,” Wathan said of Charles, who had 156 strikeouts last year. “A lot of times when you have swing-and-miss at a lower level, it equates to the same thing at the higher level.
“But he’s worked very hard on putting the ball in play a little bit more and his natural power is going to show. I don’t think he has to worry about hitting the ball out of the ballpark — it’s just going to come because he’s a big strong guy. His biggest thing is we need to get him consistently hitting the ball more, putting the ball in play and giving them a chance. Not only for him, but that’s for the whole organization.”
While Charles loves his home runs — “I’m a power guy,” he said with a laugh — he said RBIs are more important to him. And it’ll be easier to drive in runs with guys like Quinn on base more frequently.
“He’s a special player,” Charles said of Quinn. “He’s a fast guy. He gets on first base and he can easily turn it into a triple because he can steal those bags.”
In addition to his speed, Quinn, a natural righty, has developed well as a switch-hitter and worked feverishly on his bunting skills.
“He’s getting really comfortable left-handed now,” Wathan said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. He hasn’t switch-hit a lot. He’s been hampered by injuries, but he’s healthy now, he’s swinging the bat well, feels confident.
“... I think his confidence level going into the season is very high and I expect big things from him this year.”
For that matter, so does Quinn.
“We’ve got some aggressive hitters, some aggressive players. We’ve got some veterans, too, on the team,” Quinn said. “I feel like we’re going to win a lot of games this year.
“(Reading) is a great town to be in. I’m happy to be in Double-A. It’s a big step for me and I’m very excited.”