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How Tommy Joseph snapped out of his first major-league funk

Tommy Joseph stepped into the batting cage last month at Citizens Bank Park and let his friends search for the source of his struggles. The Phillies first baseman started his major-league career with a stretch strong enough to push Ryan Howard to the bench. Then he began to sink. Joseph limped into July with eight hits in his last 65 at-bats.

Tommy Joseph stepped into the batting cage last month at Citizens Bank Park and let his friends search for the source of his struggles. The Phillies first baseman started his major-league career with a stretch strong enough to push Ryan Howard to the bench. Then he began to sink. Joseph limped into July with eight hits in his last 65 at-bats.

Joseph's start was starting to look like a flash. And that's when the advice of teammates Cameron Rupp and Cody Asche helped lift Joseph out of the first slump of his major-league career.

The diagnosis, Rupp said, was simple. Joseph's swing was out of sync and he was unable to recognize pitches. Everyone has been there, Rupp said. They told Joseph to work through his legs and then use his hands. Your hands cannot fire, Rupp said, until your legs are ready. Joseph listened, refined his swing, and the results show.

"You have to battle adversity every day in this game," Rupp said. "Three out of 10, and you're the best ever. For him to basically get thrown into the fire - 'Hey, you're playing every day' - and get off to the start where he was killing it and then all of a sudden you hit the Twilight Zone. 'Oh no.' He battled out of it and never got himself down. He never walked around with his tail tucked between his legs or his head down."

Joseph entered the weekend series in Pittsburgh with 14 hits in his 37 July at-bats as he distances himself from his slump. It was an important hurdle for a player who has already cleared so many. Joseph hit his 13th homer this past week, becoming the quickest player in team history to reach that mark as he needed just 49 games.

The Phillies will use the rest of the season to gauge what they have at first base. It will be a vital two and a half months for Joseph. He will more than likely begin next season as the opening day first baseman, a scenario that once seemed impossible for a player who was on baseball's fringe a year ago.

"This was just a dream," Joseph said. "It was never going to be close to a reality. It says a lot to the people that took the time to work with me and stuck by my side as I went through the dark times."

Manager Pete Mackanin named Joseph his starting first baseman on June 11 after Joseph smashed a pair of homers the night before against the Nationals.

The 25-year-old had moved to first base a season earlier after a series of concussions forced him to stop catching. He played in his first game at the position on July 30, 2015 - not even a year ago - as he lined up with teenagers in the Gulf Coast League.

Concussions and a wrist injury limited Joseph to 121 games in three seasons, and his time in baseball was never as uncertain as it was last summer. Joseph returned to triple A for the final three weeks of the season and entered the offseason unsure of his future.

The Phillies decided to keep him. He spent spring training in the minor leagues and hit himself to the majors by the middle of May. Once he powered himself into the lineup, Joseph started to struggle. Then he received the advice from Asche and Rupp, two players with whom he bonded during the last few spring trainings.

Joseph refreshed his approach, homered on consecutive days in Denver, and headed to the all-star break full of confidence, leaving his struggles in the first half.

"He just needed to have a good day or two. It brings you back to where you're supposed to be," Mackanin said. "Ted Williams may think it's supposed to be a science, but it's tougher than that."

Most of Joseph's 13 homers this season have been tape-measure shots. He hit one 428 feet in Colorado and has ripped shots off star pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Jose Fernandez. And on Tuesday, Joseph blasted a homer to left field.

Joseph stood at home plate for a moment, watching the results of his refreshed swing send a ball into the second deck at Citizens Bank Park. Rupp rushed to the top of the dugout steps and marveled at the distance. Joseph's slump was snapped with some help from his friends.

"It's a great story if you ask me," Rupp said. "The guy was traded over here as the guy in that [Hunter Pence] trade, to be one of the rebuilding pieces in this organization, and then to go through the injuries that he had and for him to battle out of it and get to the big leagues at another position, it's pretty cool. You don't hear that too often."

mbreen@phillynews.com

@matt_breen www.philly.com/philliesblog