Wednesday, May 27

Welcome to the latest edition of the Phillies Beat newsletter.

SAN FRANCISCO – Finally, Phillies prospect Aidan Miller is swinging a bat again.

It’s been a while. Miller (No. 1 Phillies prospect, No. 20 prospect in MLB) got to Spring Training in February hoping to play well enough at shortstop and third base to push for a midseason promotion from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, if the Phillies had a need. At the very least, he could’ve provided a glimpse of the future, especially with third baseman Alec Bohm becoming a free agent after the season.

But Miller never played.

Miller, 21, has a recurring back issue. He played through back soreness last season, although he didn’t miss games until the end of the IronPigs' season. He missed the Arizona Fall League, which he had been scheduled to play. Miller arrived at Phillies camp in February, presumably healthy. But just before the Phillies played their first Grapefruit League game on Feb. 21, Miller complained of soreness in his lower back.

In early March, Miller flew to Philadelphia for further evaluation.

He didn’t do much the rest of the spring. He just started swinging a bat recently.

“It’s just the next step in his progress,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said before Wednesday’s series finale against the Giants at Oracle Park. “It’s step by step daily. I can’t tell you what he did today, for example. But yes, he has started to swing the bat.

“He’s been making progress, but we’re guiding him through it. Really, it’s no different than it was three weeks ago. We’re guiding him through the process. He keeps making progress. But we’re just doing everything really slowly.”

Nobody is providing a timetable for Miller’s return to Triple-A, which is understandable only in that backs are tricky, this is a recurring issue and there is no reason to rush him until he is absolutely healthy and ready to play.

Dombrowski said he couldn’t say what the Phillies have learned about Miller’s back that has the organization optimistic about his long-term health. He declined to say if Miller received injection therapy to aid in his recovery, citing HIPAA.

“We’re just happy with his progress,” Dombrowski said. “He’s happy with his progress. We’re with him every single day. We watch him, we treat him. He’s doing good right now. But it’s one of those things. You don’t just go from swinging a bat one day like this, then play in a game today. You’re taking your time.”

But the Phillies expect to see Miller play at some point.

“Oh yeah,” Dombrowski said. “For sure, for sure. Oh yes.”

The Phillies traded Curt Schilling to Arizona on July 26, 2000, for Vicente Padilla, Nelson Figueroa, Omar Daal and which other player? 

A. Matt Kata

B. Travis Lee

C. Tim Worrell

D. Amaury Telemaco

Former Phillies first-base coach Davey Lopes died Wednesday, the Dodgers announced.

Lopes, who coached the Phils from 2007-10, had a big personality, and it was always fun to talk to him about basestealing. I wrote a story about him for The Philadelphia Inquirer before Opening Day 2007 because the Phils expected him to make a huge impact on their run game.

He did. The ’07 Phillies stole 87.9 percent (138 out of 157) of their bases, which was an MLB record at the time.

The story started with an anecdote about how Lopes jumped Jimmy Rollins in Spring Training for not stealing second base in a game. He didn’t care that it was a Grapefruit League game on Feb. 28.

If you can steal, steal.

“Did you see that? Did you see that?” Lopes told Rollins. “When he gives you that, you’ve got to go. You’ve got to run. If you see that the first pitch and he does that again on the second pitch, you’ve got to go. You’ve got to run.”

Lopes was brilliant at picking up a pitcher’s first move to the plate, allowing him to know when a basestealer should go.

“I’m not going to say I can get everybody, but enough to the point where it will be very helpful to me,” he said.

One other memorable Lopes story: He skipped the Phillies’ 2008 World Series championship parade because he just wanted to go home. But Lopes never told anybody he planned to skip it. So, just before the Phillies left Citizens Bank Park to head to the beginning of the parade in Center City, somebody noticed Lopes wasn’t there.

Former Phillies PR director Greg Casterioto called Lopes’ cell phone.

“Davey, where are you?”

“I’m at the airport.”

There was a pause.

“So, we shouldn’t wait for you?”

“Probably not.”

The Phillies won’t be back in San Francisco until 2027 … unless they play the Giants in the postseason. If you haven’t been to Oracle Park yet, it should be atop your ballpark bucket list. Another thing to put on your baseball bucket list: Kayak to McCovey Cove for batting practice or a game.

A couple of adventurous ball scribes kayaked from City Kayak at nearby Pier 40 to McCovey Cove before Tuesday’s game.

Highly recommend.

Richie Ashburn made his first appearance as a Phillies broadcaster on April 9, 1963.

B. Travis Lee

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