Scott Kingery, again, prepares for potential final season in Phillies organization

Scott Kingery is in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. (Cheryl Pursell)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Scott Kingery was ready to be a free agent.

After spending last season — the final guaranteed year of the six-year, $24 million contract he signed in 2018 before he ever played a major-league game — entirely in the minors, the utility man and former top prospect had figured his time in the Phillies organization was over. So, Kingery was expecting the phone call he received last fall.

Sam Fuld, Philadelphia’s general manager, informed the 29-year-old that the team would decline his $13 million option for 2024, a final formality to close the book on his Phillies tenure.

Or so Kingery thought.

“At the end of that conversation, it was kind of like, ‘See you in Spring Training,'” Kingery said. “I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up.'”

As it turned out, due to an unusual wrinkle in the rules, Philadelphia was able to retain Kingery on the minor-league deal he signed out of the draft. And so, he stood at his locker inside the clubhouse at Coca-Cola Park on Wednesday afternoon’s IronPigs media day, preparing for another “final” season with the Phillies organization.

“I haven’t been with any other organization,” Kingery said in an interview with Phillies Nation, “so I don’t know anything but the Phillies. It’s nice to come back to a place you know and have been at. It would have been different for me [to hit free agency], but could have been good or could have been bad. You never know at this point.”

A second-round pick out of Arizona in 2015, Kingery broke out in the minors in 2017 and in Spring Training in 2018. The Phillies rewarded him with a mutli-year contract and a spot on the major-league roster. A natural second baseman with multi-positional versatility, Kingery bounced around the diamond. He had a disastrous rookie season, then popped in the summer of his sophomore season. After a difficult 2020 and only a handful of appearances in 2021 and 2022, he didn’t crack the big leagues at all last season.

Kingery figured his next chance, in another organization was on its way. But, as he was told shortly after the end of the year, he was not eligible for free agency because he was no longer on the 40-man roster and had not reached seven years of minor-league service time. The Phillies could keep him around and chose to do so.

“It was a shock for me when I heard that,” he said. “… I didn’t have any idea at the end of last season. I thought I was going to be a free agent, then that happened. So, it was news to me, but I’m excited to be back here with this group of guys.”

None of this has gone the way it was supposed to. Kingery was signed and expected to be a core member of a Phillies squad that was on the verge of turning the corner toward success. The team has gone to the World Series then returned to the National League Championship Series in the last two years. Meanwhile, Kingery, who played 63 games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2017, has played 212 games with the IronPigs since the start of 2022. Now he’s back in Allentown for his fifth year as they start their season on Friday night at home against Worcester.

“Previously, the first time I was in Lehigh Valley, the goal was to get up to the big leagues and play as long as you can,” he said. “Now that I’ve been here for another three years, it gets a little different. Last year, I thought I was (an impending) free agent, so I was like, ‘O.K., this is the first time I’ll get to be with another team.’ So, that changed the mindset. … You have to show that you can still play baseball.”

Despite the tough times, the disappointment and the surprise, Kingery is content. He’s remained upbeat, comfortable with where he is. He jokes with his friend Aaron Nola about being the second-longest-tenured player in the Phillies organization, behind only the starting pitcher himself, while enjoying his time in Lehigh Valley.

“I was drafted by this organization,” Kingery said. “I made my debut with this organization, and I’ve been here and Lehigh for quite a bit. This place will be part of me forever, the city of Philly.

“… This [IronPigs] clubhouse made last year one of my favorite years playing baseball. Just because of the staff and players. It made it really easy last year, and I expect the same this year.”

Still, he’s looking to make it back to the big leagues, trying to prove he can still contribute in some way — whether that’s for the Phillies this year or for another club in the future. “JetPax” still has speed on the basepaths and has embraced playing all over the field as opposed to his early-career struggles to adjust. With a .725 OPS in Triple-A last season, he’ll need to boost the offensive production in order to get that major-league chance.

And for the second year in a row, he’ll give the Phillies his best last-ditch effort.

“I know that things happen throughout the year,” Kingery said. “People go down; people get traded. All I can do is go out on the field and play good baseball and put myself in the best position. … I thought last year was my last year so, there isn’t really a different approach. But all I want to do is be consistent on the field and show that I can still play at a high level.”