Philly Front Office

Yesterday was a cool one in Philly sports. Yeah, the Flyers lost and the Phillies narrowly escaped with a win against the Nationals, but top prospects Porter Martone and Andrew Painter made their debut. This came a few days after Justin Crawford swung at the first pitch of his major league career and got a hit. There is something about watching rookies in their first game that can affect you more and more as you get older. If they pan out, you remember that day more and more. If they don’t, you think back on what could have been.

July 25, 2015: Cole Hamels Says Goodbye

Without question, the most psychologically impactful debut of my life occurred on May 12, 2006 when Cole Hamels made his debut for the Phillies. I remember exactly where I was, “Buddy’s” the crappiest bar you’ve ever seen in Trenton, NJ during final exams in college. As someone who was very aware of what he had been doing over the last few weeks in the minors, I beamed when I found out he was starting. I told anyone who sat near me everything they didn’t need to know about Cole basically until they left. 1 hit, 5 walks, and 7 strikeouts later, the debut was over. Ryan Madsen promptly blew his chance at the win, but Cole Hamels had arrived. I was sure that not only would he throw multiple no-hitters in his career, but that he would lead the Phillies to the World Series. As those things happened and even now, I look back on that day proud that I took the time to see it.

The other side of this feeling occurred on July 28, 2010. By this time, I was living in Florida, but wouldn’t miss the debut of a guy I was hyping up for years. Newly minted top prospect in baseball Domonic Brown came up to play RF and was hitting 6th for the Phillies. With Jayson Werth on 2nd in the 2nd inning, Brown roped a 1-1 pitch to right getting an RBI double in his first at bat. I was sure this was the start of the next generation of great Phillies. Fresh off back to back World Series appearances, we now had a power lefty with a great batting eye ready to match the other great outfield talents making their debuts around the NL East (Bryce Harper in Washington, Jason Heyward in Atlanta, and (Mike) Giancarlo Stanton in Miami). Unfortunately, it didn’t work out like that. After two weeks of starts, Brown was buried on the bench for the rest of the season. He got some steady run between May and July the following year, but then the Phillies traded for Hunter Pence and it was back to the minors for Brown. By 2013, a torrid first half earned him an All-Star birth and it finally looked like the production would match the hype for Brown. Instead, he crashed down to Earth in the 2nd half and was never a productive player again. That one still hurts.

Speaking of Hurts, who remembers when calls for the benching of Carson Wentz were finally answered and Jalen Hurts made his first start against the Saints on December 13th 2020? Granted, this was not his debut. He had spot action previously and came in for relief during the prior week, but the first start for a QB is most important. After so much attention had been given to the Eagles drafting him in the 2nd round after giving Carson Wentz a big contract extension, this start was a big deal. The questions over how the Eagles were treating Wentz were everywhere (especially after letting Nick Foles walk earlier too) as were questions as to whether the always polarizing Hurts could deliver. Well, the 3-8-1 Eagles who had lost 4 in a row coming in, came home with a 24-21 win over the 10-2 Saints powered by Jalen’s 167 yards and a TD passing plus 108 more on the ground. The rest of the year was up and down, but very obviously 2 years later he was an MVP candidate and reached the Super Bowl. Two years after that he was Super Bowl MVP.

James Harden, Jalen Hurts, and the Importance of Winning

Lastly, it was 2 years in the making, but on October 26th, 2016 Joel Embiid finally played for the Sixers. It was a seriously long road and so much hinged on him being good following years of “The Process” and we really didn’t know what we were going to get. Well, he shot a 3 27 seconds into the game and made his first bucket with a pump fake from the 3 point line into a Dream Shake 16 footer. There were pretty jump shots, spin moves, and even a chase down block in his 22 minutes of play. He was the real deal. For all the crap he gets, Embiid is one of the most talented NBA players of all time. While the playoff wins haven’t been there, he does have an MVP, two other runner up finishes, and a scoring title. If not for injuries, he’d be considered one of the best of all time.

What will Andrew Painter and Porter Martone become? No idea. Both looked like they belonged yesterday though. Painter went 5.1 innings striking out 8. The only run he let up was allowed in by reliever Tanner Banks. Martone put up a team high 5 shots and nearly scored in the thick of a playoff chase. We need both to become some of the stars of their teams in the future just like Hamels, Hurts, and Embiid. When Brown didn’t pan out, the Phillies didn’t recover for years. That’s a lot of pressure, but we will see how their stories turn out…

Stats: Sports-Reference

Photo: Emilee Chinn/Getty Images