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Haseley, Phils steal Vlad's thunder

No. 3 Phillies prospect's four hits outshine Guerrero's long ball
Adam Haseley has reached safely in 11 of the 12 games he's played in with Reading. (Kevin Pataky/MiLB.com)
July 23, 2018

Several of baseball's youngest and brightest starts were on full display Monday night and lest anyone forget, Adam Haseley provided a concrete reminder he's part of that group.Philadelphia's No. 3 prospect matched his career high with four hits and scored twice to lead Double-A Reading past New Hampshire, 9-3, at

Several of baseball's youngest and brightest starts were on full display Monday night and lest anyone forget, Adam Haseley provided a concrete reminder he's part of that group.
Philadelphia's No. 3 prospect matched his career high with four hits and scored twice to lead Double-A Reading past New Hampshire, 9-3, at FirstEnergy Stadium. The fine performance came opposite top Toronto prospectVladimir Guerrero Jr., who belted a two-run homer in his third game back from a six-week stay on the disabled list.

"I was seeing the ball pretty well tonight," said Haseley, who previously notched four hits on May 22 in the Florida State League. "Sometimes you get some breaks too. One of the hits was off a glove and another was a dribbler that found its way through. The results could've been different, but they found some holes. It was one of those games where I was putting good swings on the pitches."

MLB.com's No. 78 overall prospect went down swinging against right-hander Josh DeGraaf in the first inning before collecting a hit in each of his final four at-bats. The 22-year-old outfielder started Reading's three-run third with a single to center field, scoring on Damek Tomscha's 12th home run of the season. Haseley reached on an infield single to third in the fourth and singled to left in the sixth, scoring on Darick Hall's base hit. With the Fightins up in the eighth, 9-2, he grounded a single into left for his fourth hit, equaling his total from his previous six games.
Gameday box score
Through his first 12 Eastern League contests, Haseley is batting .389/.542/.694 with 11 runs, seven RBIs and five extra-base hits. Combined with his strong FSL performance, the Orlando, Florida, native is hitting .309/.367/.443 with 28 extra-base knocks through 91 games.
"It's only been two weeks [in Double-A]," Haseley said. "I don't have any expectations to hold my average at whatever it is right now. It's a very small sample size and we still have quite a few games left. I just want to be consistent. Sometimes the ball finds a hole and sometimes it won't. It sounds cliché, but I want to take it one day at a time and stay consistent with what I'm working on."
The Phillies' first-round pick -- eighth overall -- out of the University of Virginia in last year's Draft has proven to be a quick study at the professional level, having debuted with Class A Short Season Williamsport in 2017. In just over a Minor League season's worth of games -- 148 -- Haseley has batted .299 with 46 extra-base hits, 101 runs and 73 RBIs.
"Playing this many games has been a big adjustment," he said. "We've been doing this now for about six months straight, going back to Spring Training. It feels like it too. I've noticed lately that I might have dropped a little weight, and at this point in the season, the body is a lot different than it was in the spring."

Austin Listi and Deivi Grullon also went yard for Reading, which pounded out 14 hits.
Fightin Phils starter Felix Paulino (1-0) earned the win in his Double-A debut, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks while striking out six over five innings.
Guerrero's long ball for the Fisher Cats was his 12th of the year and his first since May 29.

MLB.com's top overall prospect was out of action for five weeks beginning June 7 and started a four-game rehab assignment on July 13 in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League before moving on to Class A Advanced Dunedin for one contest.
Jon Berti went deep for New Hampshire.

Michael Avallone is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @MavalloneMiLB.