Amaro: 'Chase Is Still Kind Of The Backbone Of Our Club'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- They say all good things must come to an end, and yes, that includes the phenomenal career of Chase Utley.
Utley, 36, is struggling this season hitting just .192 and fans are starting to call for younger players. However, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. isn't ready to give up just yet.
"Well, I mean listen. Chase is a guy that we believe---he has not had the greatest and clearly there is room for improvement as he says," Amaro told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday. "We'll continue to try to get César [Hernández] as many reps as we possibly can. I think it's important for us to get Chase going and continue to give him opportunities to do that. But listen, we have a club that's aging and we have to be cognizant of that. We still are---our hopes are still to try to get young players opportunities and that's still the goal, and we'll see how it all plays out.
Listen: Ruben Amaro Jr. on the 94WIP Morning Show
"Chase is still kind of the backbone of our club in a lot of ways and we just have to get him going and hope that he starts swinging the bat a little bit better, so that he could start doing the things that he typically will do," Amaro continued. "I think that he's still got it in him. Time will tell whether or not, as he gets opportunities to play, we'll see what happens."
Speaking of younger players, the Phillies drafted 18-year-old shortstop, Cornelius Randolph with the 10th overall pick in the first round of Monday night's First-Year Player Draft. Randolph, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, played for Griffin High School in Griffin, Ga., where he batted .526 in 17 games with 11 doubles, seven home runs, 27 walks and a .934 slugging percentage.
"We just wanted to take the best player," Amaro said. "Clearly, bats are a tough thing to find and with all those bats going off the board early we figured we better get the best bat we can as early as possible. And we did."
For those are concerned about Randolph's lack of experience against legitimate pitching, Amaro says the Phillies have done their research.
"We've sent several, 10-12---we've had people from me, to Charlie Manuel, to obviously [Director of Amateur Scouting] Johnny Alvarez and the area guys have seen quite a bit of him over the past," Amaro explained. "He's quote-unquote one of those famous guys.
"He's a guy we think---how fast he moves, we don't know, but if a guy can hit then he'll move fast. I mean you look at [20-year-old shortstop] J.P. Crawford who is playing in Double-A right now."
Amaro says Randolph will likely transition into the outfield as he progresses.
"We probably will see him in the outfield and we'll probably get him off the dirt," Amaro said. "He's a pretty athletic kid, but not athletic enough to be in the infield we don't think. We considered maybe playing him at third-base, but the more likely scenario is that he would go to the outfield and just let him learn the position."
