Phillies Move Singleton Back To First

Some interesting news came out of the Philadelphia Phillies minor league system last night.  The Phillies announced that they have moved one of their top prospects, Jonathan Singleton back to first base.  Singleton was moved to left field recently because of Ryan Howard locking down first base in the majors for a long time.  The Phillies believe that Singleton will be up in the majors when Howard is still there, so instead of making him wait longer until Howard is no longer manning first base they hoped that left field would work for him.

The 19 year old has a lot of time to learn, and the Phillies did not rule out a possible return to the outfield in the future.  Singleton has not been the same hitter, and they believed he was starting to press to much.  They felt that putting him back at first, where he is more comfortable will allow him to relax and get his hitting back on track.  Singleton is happy about the move and feels he will be more relaxed now.  First will allow him to stay more focused in the game and not worry about each at-bat, like he was in the outfield.

Singleton is still young and has a lot more time to develop into an elite player like he is projected to be.  For now it makes more sense to have him relaxed and focused early on in his career.  The move should help him get his hitting back on track and just be more comfortable playing the game.  He is likely to play at first for the rest of the season.  In the future if he is ready for the majors, but Howard is still blocking his path do not be surprised if they re-visit the outfield experiment.