Skip to main content

PhoulBallz Off-season Check In: 2B Prospect Scott Kingery

Scott Kingery, image- Jay Floyd
The Phillies' 2nd round draft pick this year was second baseman Scott Kingery. In 66 games with Class A Lakewood after signing his first professional contract, the 21-year-old posted a .250 average with three home runs, 21 RBI and 11 steals.

Kingery, a righty batting second baseman, sported a .392 average while being named Pac-12 player of the year as a member of the Arizona Wildcats in 2015.

The five-foot-10 180-pounder took time recently to talk about his very first off-season, mentoring high school players, feeling inspired by an NBA team and more. Read ahead for the full interview.

-After the season, how much time do you take off from swinging a bat and picking up a ball? Also, during that time, what do you do to stay fit?

I mean, this is my first real off-season. Before this, I was playing year round without a break. So, this is the first time I've had some time off to rest and get my body back in the best shape in can be in. I just started throwing a couple weeks ago and swinging the bat a little bit a couple weeks ago. Before that, I had instructs, so I went a little (longer) than some of the other guys. And I've been just resting and working out and running and keeping my body in shape without doing too much baseball activity because my body needed a break from it.

-Regarding instructs, what was your experience like there in Clearwater for those weeks after the regular season ends and do you feel pressure to impress the organization with all the eyes on you there?

I really looked at it as a way to fine tune some stuff that some people saw during the season. And, to be honest, I think it really helped me. I just tweaked a few things in my swing, worked defensively with a couple guys and figured out some footwork around the bag and worked on defense and tried to fine tune some stuff that will help me during the season.

-You spoke of playing collegiate level and summer leagues, year round. What is it like this year to have this downtime and a true off-season? Does it drive you crazy to not be out on the field?

Shawn Williams, my manager with Lakewood, he put it perfectly. He said, "You guys need the rest, but after about two weeks, you're going to be bored and you're going to want to get back out there on the field." And for me, right now, I'm at the point where I want to start getting back out on the field and play some games again. There's not much to do and when your life's revolved around baseball for 21 years and you finally get some off time, I have no idea what to do. So, I've just been working out and waiting for baseball to start again.

-Are you working a job or doing any clinics to keep busy or earn a check this off-season?

I haven't been working a job, but me and a couple other guys go back to our high school and work with the infielders there and stuff and kind of run some camps. They have winter camps and we just run a couple of those and help out the high schoolers.

-When you were their age did you have players come back to help you and make that type of impression on you to help you develop? And what's it like now to be that guy who mentors younger players?

When I was in high school, there was a couple of guys that came back. Joe Mather was a former big league player and now he's coaching with the Diamondbacks and he would come back and help out and just work with certain specific skills and stuff and it was really cool having those guys there. I knew what it felt like back in the day, so I'm assuming the kids are pretty excited to have me and Cole Tucker, who was in the Sally League last year with West Virginia, to go back and help out and just hang around with the guys for a little bit. I'm sure they're excited for that.

-I know the Phils will issue all their young players workout assignments or guidelines for the off-season, but is there anything specific for you that you are working to improve during the winter?

There wasn't anything specific, but personally, I wanted to put on some weight because, as it is, I'm a small guy and at the end of last season I was really skinny because I had been playing for so long. So, I'm trying to put on some extra weight this off-season, so I can go in and have some extra weight that I can lose and still stay at a healthy playing weight throughout next season.

-Aside from working out with the high school players this off-season, is there anything else you're doing to stay busy or have fun?

I've been hiking a lot. We have a lot of mountains out here in Arizona, so, I go hiking with some of my buddies. We go to some Suns games. Try to make it out to as many Cardinals games as possible, so whatever we can do to have a little fun.

-I know you also vacationed recently out in the bay area and saw a Warriors game. That team could potentially be among the best NBA squads ever. When you're seeing guys do what they do at such an elite level are those guys inspiring to watch, even to athletes from other sports?

It's incredible to just watch how those guy play and how they work together and how dominant they are. You know how much work they've put in and you know exactly what it takes to get to the level that they're at. So, it's really cool getting to watch those guys go out there and play like that.

Image- Jay Floyd

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...