Scott Kingery and the Phillies say he’ll benefit from playing just one position

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Phillies lineup card posted Thursday morning inside the visiting clubhouse at JetBlue Park listed Scott Kingery at shortstop, two days after he played second base. For Kingery, the first week of the Grapefruit League may have felt a bit like the last two regular seasons when he bounced all over the diamond.

But his time as a super-utility player — a role that former manager Gabe Kapler molded over the last two seasons — may not extend this year beyond spring training as momentum continues to grow for Kingery to enter the season as the team’s starting second baseman.

Early indications are that Jean Segura should be able to handle third base, which he moved to this spring after the Phillies signed Didi Gregorius to play shortstop. If so, that will allow Kingery to stick at second.

“I have fun playing second base. To me, I think my skill set really plays well at second base,” Kingery said after homering and driving in three runs in a 12-5 win over the Boston Red Sox. “Obviously, it’s a position that I played mostly coming up through the minor leagues and I eventually wish to move back there. But you never know what’s going to happen. But it’s good to be back over there.”

Kingery improved offensively last season from a difficult rookie season, but his production was still around the league average. Playing several positions took a toll, Kingery said. His pregame work could require shagging fly balls in center field and then grounders at third base before taking reps at shortstop. The utility role was a grind. For the Phillies, playing Kingery at a set defensive position could bring offensive benefits.

“There are days where you can tell a player, ‘Don’t take so many ground balls, just take some BP.’ But playing short one day and second one day and third one day and center one day, you have to work on your defense all the time," manager Joe Girardi said. "It should be better for him.”

Kingery was drafted as a second baseman and played there almost exclusively in the minor leagues. But Kapler, who was fired in October, played Kingery at seven positions the last two seasons as he was blocked at second base by Cesar Hernandez. Kingery has started 231 major-league games and just six of them were at second base.

He still considers second base his natural position, but has played there so infrequently since reaching the majors that it felt strange earlier this month when he played second again. It has started to feel more comfortable, Kingery said, the more he has played it this spring. And it won’t feel too weird if it leads to success at the plate.

“For me, it’s more of a thing that I can show up and not look at the lineup,” Kingery said. “I can know that if I need to take a day off from ground balls that I can because I’m playing that one position every game.”

Nick Pivetta struck out five batters in 2⅔ innings as he made his second start of the spring. It was a good audition for the team’s starting-rotation competition, which Girardi said has not yet officially started. "“I think he’s embraced the challenge,” Girardi said. ... Aaron Nola will start Friday at home against Atlanta in his second Grapefruit League start.