Galvis gets look at second base in Phillies loss to Braves

ATLANTA - It is too early to tell exactly when J.P. Crawford, a highly touted shortstop and the Phillies' top prospect, will reach the major leagues. But it is not premature to begin to gauge whether Freddy Galvis, the Phillies' shortstop all season, could factor into the team's equation at second base in the future.

Galvis started at second base for the first time this season in the Phillies' 2-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night at Turner Field. Although interim manager Pete Mackanin insisted there was "no ulterior motive" to the temporary position change, it makes sense for the Phillies' front office to see Galvis play on the right side of the infield before season's end.

Galvis "might play two or three games" at second base over the final two weeks of the season, Mackanin said. Andres Blanco manned shortstop Saturday in a flip-flopped middle infield.

The defeat was the Phillies' fifth in a row. They need to win seven of their final 13 games to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1961.

Jerad Eickhoff pitched seven shutout innings before giving way to Jerome Williams. Williams promptly allowed two runs on a single to Nick Markakis, a walk to Hector Olivera, and a double Freddie Freeman.

"It's not going to hurt [Galvis] to move around a little bit. Just keeping him versatile," Mackanin said before the game. "We've seen him there before, and he's been really good over there. There's no ulterior motive to it other than just maybe [to] change the scenery for everybody."

Mackanin said he "wouldn't read into it more than that." While understandably a little surprised, Galvis, a natural shortstop, said he was fine with the move.

Although each of his previous 132 starts this season had come at shortstop, Galvis has experience at second base. The 25-year-old Venezuelan dazzled defensively over 45 starts at the beginning of the 2012 season when filling in for a then-injured Chase Utley. He has also dabbled at third base and in the outfield over the last few years.

"I'm open to whatever the manager says," Galvis said. "I'm just going to be ready to play."

A career .218 hitter entering the season, Galvis has exceeded expectations with his bat in his first full season as a major-league regular. After an 0-for-3 performance Saturday, he is batting .260 over a career-high 507 at-bats. Defensively, while still showing an uncanny knack for making the highlight-reel play, he has made more mistakes than usual. His 17 fielding errors are more than all but two National League shortstops.

Crawford, 20, has been viewed, for two-plus years, as the Phillies' shortstop of the future. The 16th overall pick of the 2013 draft could reach the big leagues as early as next summer. He capped his second full professional season on Saturday in double-A Reading's Game 5 loss to Bowie in the Eastern League Championship Series.

Crawford, who will play in the Arizona Fall League that begins next month, batted .265 with a .761 on-base-plus-slugging percentage over 351 regular-season at-bats in double A after his late-May promotion from high-A Clearwater. With Reading, he racked up 21 doubles, seven triples, and five home runs and tallied five more walks (49) than strikeouts (44).

Galvis, arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, will more than likely open next season as the Phillies' primary shortstop. It is far from a guarantee he ends it there. Crawford could begin next season with triple-A Lehigh Valley. Given his talent, there is no telling how swiftly he could play his way to the Phillies.

When Crawford reaches Citizens Bank Park, Galvis' role will obviously change. The Phillies will need to weigh Galvis' value at second base against that of his countryman, Cesar Hernandez. With Hernandez sidelined with a left thumb injury for the rest of a lost season, management apparently found this an apt time to measure Galvis' versatility.