Scott Kingery’s attempt to win the starting center field job is over, and now he’s even lost his spot on the big league roster.
The Phillies announced the team was optioning the soon-to-be 27-year-old to AAA Lehigh Valley ahead of the team’s penultimate spring training game on Sunday against the Yankees.
Kingery’s demotion comes on the heels of a lackluster spring in which he hit a paltry .159 (7-for-44) with three doubles, one home run and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 19-to-4. He had been battling Roman Quinn, Adam Haseley and Odubel Herrera for the team’s center field job but fell far behind the pack as his spring struggles continued.