Now, by no means is he Chase Utley, but Freddy Galvis has quietly elevated his level of play. While he has always had a sharp glove in the field, the rookie is often criticized for his hitting (or lack thereof). But in the month of May, the Venezuelan native has tallied a .288 average with 11 RBIs and seven doubles. His surge this month (especially his .333 average the past seven days) has bumped his season average from .191 to .235 and he has also doubled his run production.
And the month is only halfway over.
Galvis’ improved at-bats have greatly helped the Phillies’ offense, and are one of the many reasons why they have won five consecutive games.
Among qualified Phillies’ players, Galvis is first in doubles, third in RBIs, and fifth in batting average. That’s pretty good for a player many fans wanted to cast off after his poor beginning to the season.
Even more impressive is where the rookie stands among his NL counterparts. To the surprise of none, his batting average sits near the bottom among second baseman, only ahead of Washington’s Danny Espinosa, the recently waived Orlando Hudson, and Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks. However, besides this, Galvis is sitting comfortably near the top of the charts in multiple categories.
He is tied for the lead in doubles with New York’s Daniel Murphy, second in overall extra base hits, and third in RBIs behind Omar Infante and Dan Uggla. And all of this is despite his brutal month of April.
If you take away his horrendous start in April and focus on the month of May, Galvis has a higher average than Uggla and Brandon Phillips, more RBIs than everyone but Infante, and more doubles than anyone at his position in the MLB, other than Robinson Cano and Dustin Pedroia.
Now whether or not Galvis (who has the most doubles by a Phillies rookie second baseman since 1940) is just in the midst of a hot streak or if this is an indication of what’s to come, the Phillies have to be happy with how he has handled everything and how he has responded to the pressure of filling in the void left by Utley.
Make no mistakes about it, seeing a healthy Utley return to the lineup is the highly-awaited dream of every Phillies fan, but Galvis has played himself into a position where he will more than likely still see some playing time when the All-Star second baseman returns. It’s always nice to have young, energetic talent coming off the bench.
And that’s exactly what Galvis can provide.
Kid is as good as a polished glove, as I’ve seen here, in a long time. Hopefully he can continue to grow as a MLB hitter, & he will be good for a long time. Another reason, in that long list, why the Rollins re-signing was a mistake. They new this guy was major league ready, but Amaro screwed the pooch AGAIN, with an over the hill, overpaid signing.
“Now, by no means is he Chase Utley”
Chase Utley hasn’t even been Chase Utley in 4 years. Get off of his wood already. Utley is done, & NEVER will be a contributing factor anymore. Get over it, & move on. Even if Utley does come back, he should play no more than a couple of times a week. I don’t care WTF he says, or feels. He isn’t healthy, & gets worn down every year. Even last year with the injury shortened season, he still wore down. HE’S baked, & I wish he’d just retire, because he & his albatross of a salary, & him hiding of his injuries, are killing this team. Period. Remember, Galvis may have struggled at the plate in the minors, but he was pretty dam good with men OB & runners in scoring position, not to mention his superior glove.
DCar – I actualy agree with you on most things you said. I am iffy on the Rollins signing. It was almost a necessary evil, Rube had to have some idea that Utley was going to be out quite a while. If we didnt sign Rollins we’d be looking at a middle infield of Pete Orr and Galvis. No thanks.
You are 100% correct on Utley.
Should have Signed Free-Agent 3B Aramis Ramirez then move Polanco to 2B and with the small chance that Utley could returnn, have Utley play 1B until Howard’s return… This would have been GM Paulman’s plan back in the Off-Season
The Rollins signing was tough. Galvis had a major league ready glove, but the hitting side was the question. I can’t kill Reuben for that one, because we are basing it on Galvis anticipated success. I would prefer to focus on the fact that if he can hit .270-.280, then the Phils have their SS for the future.
They can always look to move J-Roll.
Frank, no you wouldn’t, because if numbnuts Amaro had signed Aramis Ramirez like he should have, you would have-
Ramirez- Galvis- Polanco- Wiggington IF. Amaro should be fired. 2 highest payroll, oldest MLB team, bottom of the division, barren minor leagues, with ZERO hitting prospects in sight.
Who is going to trade for J-Roll at $10 million per Season for 3 more years when he’s batting .235 with 6 RBI’s …Why they overpaid for him is beyond me at this stage of his career is beyond me.. He will become the next Ibanez,Polanco where the Phils are overpaying so much that they can’t move/trrade him and basically just stuck with have so you may as well play him since your paying him that kinda $$$.. another poor contract and poor roster maangement by GM Amaro
100% CORRECT PAUL! Amaro should be fired! He did a piss poor job & the team has steadily worsened every year, since his takeover. Also if they let Hamel walk, they will regret that for the next 5-10 years. Manual & he needs to go. Bring up Sandberg, & bring back Gillick, for 1-2 years, to groom someone else. Let Wade run the minor leagues. He & Arbuckle, built that WS nucleus, not Gillick. He just put the icing on the cake.
one game over .500 and only 4 games out in the loss column – Go Phighting Phils
Next 23 Games in 24 Days will tell the tale of this 2012 Season I believe
Upcoming Oppnents Red Sox,Nats,at Cardinals (4 games), at Mets,
Home vs Marlins, Dodgers (4 games) at Baltimore..
They win 14-15 of these 23 games and they should be in good shape,
They will be playing quality opponents who will put runs on the board so Phillie Offense needs to stay hot continue ot put runs up… The Bullpen will be tested and needs to come thru.. This 23 games in 24 days will determine if they will be buyers or sellers come trade time in my opinion…
Red Sox tickets used to be the hottest ticket in town but no one cares —- Sox and Phils are in the cellar and the series isn’t even garnering any attention
if back of bull peb settles in this will be an exciting year of nl east baseball, its good to see some competition for a change, and will make the phils a little more prepared for the post season ala 2008, welcome back on the bandwagon paulman, hope your ankles have healed from the last time you jumped off
Freddy Galvis. Si!!!