PHILADELPHIA _ More than five months ago, as the Phillies prepared to break spring training in Florida, Roman Quinn was on Matt Klentak's mind. The first-year general manager had seen almost a dozen of his organization's best prospects in camp. He had various reasons to be excited, but Klentak said there was something about Quinn _ how a 5-foot-10 dynamo sprayed the outfield with hard-hit balls and zipped around the bases _ that warranted special attention.
That Quinn arrived in the majors Sunday despite another injury-shortened season demonstrated how high the front office is on his potential. There he was Monday, in a 6-2 Phillies win over sinking Pittsburgh, a little late on a Gerrit Cole 96-mph fastball but strong enough to muscle it over the left fielder's head for a two-run double.
The 23-year-old outfielder is one of the more compelling figures in a season that is 18 games from completion. He will play often _ on Monday, he started in right field _ with the goal of assessing how his bat and legs measure at big-league pace. Quinn will not win or lose a job for 2017 in September, but first impressions are important.
Really, ever since Quinn was drafted in the second round in 2011, Phillies officials harbored high hopes. He was a schoolboy shortstop in Florida, moved to center field where his speed played even more, and would have been in the majors sooner had he not lost the equivalent of two seasons of development because of injuries.
He can hit a fastball. And he can run.
Quinn walked in the first inning. He stole second base but was left there when Maikel Franco and Ryan Howard struck out. His second-inning double, preceded by Freddy Galvis' 18th homer of the season and a Cody Asche run-scoring double, cushioned the Phillies' lead. In the sixth, Quinn outlasted former Phillies lefty Antonio Bastardo and crushed a 3-1 fastball to deep center for another double.
With a decent three weeks, Quinn can add intrigue to a muddled outfield picture. Both Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr have stumbled at the plate. Nick Williams, one of the organization's top prospects, did not merit a September call-up because of a prolonged slump at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
So there are no guarantees for 2017. The Phillies could sign a veteran outfielder _ a move that Phillies manager Pete Mackanin has endorsed _ or package a few mid-tier prospects further from the majors to acquire a better one who is major-league ready. They could fast-track Dylan Cozens, who homered 41 times at Double-A Reading, but the slugger is probably ticketed for Allentown.
Quinn had exclusively played in center until July, when the Phillies had him try both left and right field while in the Gulf Coast League to rehab a rib cage injury. His arm, which scouts grade as above average, played up in the corners.
"We don't want to send any kind of message to Odubel that he's not going to be the center fielder," Mackanin said. "He's our center fielder right now. So Quinn will play all three. He's played all three down below."
But Herrera could shift to left field this winter in Venezuela with eyes toward a permanent move there next season. Mackanin has praised Altherr's play in center, although his return from significant wrist surgery has not been as productive as the Phillies envisioned.
"We'll look at the whole picture at the end of the season," Mackanin said. "In the spring, we'll make a decision and see what we've got. See what makes the most sense."
Quinn's major-league career is two days old, and Mackanin had no reason not to play him again on the third day.
