Phillies in AFL: Former Arizona Wildcat Kingery back home

Phillies second baseman Scott Kingery is used to showing what he can do in Arizona. Born in Phoenix, Kingery spent three years excelling at the University of Arizona before the Phillies made him a second-round pick in the 2015 Draft. His professional homes have been in places like Lakewood, N.J., Clearwater, Fla., and Reading, Pa. Needless to say, he’s happy to be back in the desert.

“This is a great opportunity,” said Kingery, the Phillies’ No. 13 prospect. “I’ve been on the East Coast my whole professional career. Coming back here and getting the chance to play, my family and friends can come watch, it’s going to be awesome. The chance to play with all these great players is going to be an incredible experience.”

While Kingery had a stellar career at Arizona, it wasn’t always easy for him at home. Lightly recruited out of high school — he had a small scholarship to Central Arizona College — Kingery rolled the dice as a walk-on to the Wildcats program. The gamble paid off as Kingery hit .351 over three years, .392 in his junior season.

“I had to self-recruit a little bit,” Kingery said. “I told myself that if I wanted to be anybody in baseball I was going to take my shot at University of Arizona. If I didn’t make it, I’d get a great education. Out of high school, there weren’t really a lot of offers, so I had to take my chances and it all worked out for me.”

It worked out pretty well during his first full season of pro ball as well, as Kingery reached Double-A, earning a promotion after hitting .293/.360/.411 with 26 steals in 94 Florida State League games. The Eastern League was a stiffer challenge — he hit .250 with just a .273 on-base percentage, but he did add four more stolen bases to bring him to 30 for the year. And that’s a part of his game he really worked on.

“It was definitely a different experience for me,” Kingery said. “Coming from a half season, it was 142 games, plus playoffs and Spring Training. It got to me a little bit in the homestretch in that final month. I couldn’t ask for a better first full season.”

“I really focused on my speed a lot and my ability to drive the ball in the gap really helps me,” he continued. “I’m not a big home run guy so I get my doubles and …

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