By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
The Philadelphia Phillies had been looking at infielders to improve their team over the past few weeks, but haven't found a long-term solution. The Phils added veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera last week, but he isn't a great defensive shortstop. Scott Kingery is hit-or-miss defensively at short since his natural position is second base.
Some good news is that the Phillies could get some help on the defensive side of things at shortstop soon as J.P. Crawford begins his road back from a broken hand suffered back on June 19.
J.P. Crawford begins a rehab assignment today with the Gulf Coast League Phillies East. He’s been in Clearwater since Thursday. Could rejoin Phillies in first few weeks of August.
— Matt Breen (@matt_breen) July 30, 2018
Crawford, once highly-regarded as the best prospect in the Phillies organization, has yet to settle in comfortably at the big league level. In 34 games this season for the Phils, Crawford is slashing .194/.312/.333 with five doubles, a triple, two homers, eight RBI, 14 runs scored, 33 strikeouts and 12 walks. While many Phillies fans are ready to close the door already on the 23-year-old, he's only had 199 plate appearances in the majors and should have more of an opportunity to turn that around.
The Phillies drafted Crawford with the 16th pick in the 2013 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Lakewood High School in California.
