READING — There’s no superstition floating around FirstEnergy Stadium.
At every Reading Fightin Phils home game, a board in center field boasting a countdown to the Eastern League playoffs sheds another number. At the box office, postseason tickets are vanishing rapidly.
Join one of the 6,000 fans attending Reading home games and you’ll discover why the outlook is so optimistic.
A season that began by billing the Philadelphia Phillies’ future stars has barely altered its message. In fact, there are just as many of the organization’s top prospects currently in Reading as there were when the season started.
The result? An Eastern League-leading 71 wins that have come on the back of an incredible stretch.
Heading into today’s action, the Fightin Phils (71-51) have won 14 of their last 15 games, including a 10-game win streak from Aug. 2-13. The team has gone 22-9 since the All-Star break ended July 16.
“We’ve kind of been a team that never got on a hot streak all year,” Reading manager Dusty Wathan said after Monday’s 8-1 victory over New Hampshire. “... It’s one of those things where everyone started thinking, ‘When are we going to get hot? When are we going to win seven or eight in a row?’
“I think it’s come at a good time,” Wathan added. “Late in August, late in the season is a good time to get hot. Right now, there’s a lot of confidence in the clubhouse.”
And its translating to the diamond.
First baseman Brock Stassi is under consideration for league MVP. He’s batting .305 in 113 games with Reading this season. His 77 RBIs lead the Eastern League by double digits. He’s smashed 11 home runs — tied with Cameron Perkins for the team lead. Stassi’s 27 doubles are a team-best and the closest anyone else on the team comes to his 124 hits is Perkins’ 93.
“It’s a lot of fun playing for something that means something this late in the season,” said Stassi, a 2011 Phillies draft pick. “Earlier in my career with the Phillies, we’ve never really been in a race like this. The trades, the guys they brought over are fitting in, no adjustment period for them at all.”
The trades to which Stassi refers are the big names Philadelphia unloaded at the deadline. The Phillies dealt former World Series MVP Cole Hamels to Texas for slugger Nick Williams and pitcher Jake Thompson. They also shipped closer Jonathan Papelbon to Washington for pitcher Nick Pivetta.
Thompson and Williams immediately became the third and fourth top prospects in the organization, respectively, and Pivetta the 13th. Williams went 20-for-53 (.377) in 12 games before this week’s homestand began. Thompson was 3-0 in his three starts for the Fightins with a 1.80 ERA.
J.P. Crawford, the club’s top prospect, is hitting .253 in 67 games since being brought up to Reading from Single-A Clearwater. Catcher Andrew Knapp, also recently promoted from Clearwater, is hitting an astounding .401 in 39 games with 42 RBIs, seven home runs, 17 doubles and two triples.
When the Eastern League season began, Reading general manager Scott Hunsicker couldn’t imagine his club could get any better, with the likes of Aaron Nola, Zach Eflin, Ben Lively, Tom Windle, Roman Quinn, Kelly Dugan and Aaron Altherr all on the opening-day roster.
“I think we always had a good team,” Hunsicker said Monday in his FirstEnergy Stadium office. “(Phillies general manager) Ruben Amaro and (director of player development) Joe Jordan gave us a good team. But at the trade deadline — and they kind of joked about it beforehand — they said, ‘Well, you might get better at the trade deadline.’ And they were right.
“It basically took us from a team that was battling for the playoffs to a team that’s won 13 out of 14.”
Not lost in all the shuffle is closer Stephen Shackleford, who spent last season with Seattle Double-A affiliate Jackson (Tenn.) before signing a free-agent contract with the Phillies in December.
The friendly, mustached right-hander is now Reading’s single-season save leader with 28 — which also leads not only the Eastern League, but all of Double-A baseball and is tied for the lead in all the minors.
“My defense has been making really good plays behind me all season,” Shackleford said. “I’m very grateful that Dusty and Lundy (pitching coach Dave Lundquist) gave me the opportunity to be in that spot.”
The success isn’t just translating into wins, but it’s also boosting attendance. Reading’s average attendance of 6,013 this season leads the Eastern League.
Monday night, 5,016 packed FirstEnergy.
“We still have the same great stadium, we still have the same great promotions, the same great pricing and free parking and everything like that,” Hunsicker said. “You sprinkle in 10 to 12 guaranteed future big-leaguers, it kind of completes the package.”
And there’s plenty left to see. Thirteen of Reading’s 20 remaining games are at home, including the two games left in the series against New Hampshire tonight and Thursday and a three-game, weekend series with New Britain.
The Fightins then make a short trip to Altoona before hosting four-game series with Bowie and Binghamton and finish with four on the road at Richmond.
Beyond that? We’ll find out shortly. If Reading finishes in its current spot atop the Eastern Division, it’ll start the playoffs on the road for two games beginning Wednesday, Sept. 9 and return home for the final three games of the series (Games 4 and 5 if necessary) on Friday, Sept. 11.
The way things are going, who’s to say the Fightin Phils will end up anywhere else? Certainly no one in FirstEnergy Stadium doubts a first-place finish.
“We have a great team in Reading. We’ve had a great team the whole year,” Shackleford said. “The guys we added on have definitely helped, but this team has been really good. It’s a team effort, there’s great chemistry in the clubhouse and we always come to the field expecting to win.”