Didi Gregorius borrowed Adam Haseley’s helmet then homered for the Phillies | Marcus Hayes
Some of his gear got left behind in Clearwater, but he mashed anyway.
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LAKELAND, Fla. -- Didi Gregorious approached Adam Haseley and asked an odd question:
“What size is your head?”
Haseley looked at him askance, and replied, “Seven and three-eighths.”
That made Gregorious happy.
“Can I use it?”
It seems that Phillies clubhouse attendants had packed Gregorious’ game bag for the one-hour road trip east to face the Tigers, but, for some reason, Gregorious had left some gear in his practice bag, which they didn’t put on the bus. When he arrived at Joker Merchant Stadium he had no shin guard, the wrong batting gloves, no helmet, and, most significantly, no game bat.
As his teammates learned of his misfortune while they dressed in the clubhouse, aware of the contrarian nature of baseball, they predicted ... good fortune?
“These guys called it,” Gregorious said after the game, pointing at third baseman Alec Bohm and second baseman Jean Segura. “They said I was going to hit a home run today.”
They were right. In the fifth inning, Gregorious launched a changeup off Will Vest clear over the Margaritaville Patio in right field, and did it in different gear: Haseley’s helmet, his own batting-practice batting gloves, and his own BP bat, with a naked shin.
It was his first homer of the spring, and it resonated. Gregorious is, supposedly, in competition for the starting shortstop spot with prospect Bryson Stott. Gregorious, 32, fought through an elbow issue in 2021 -- either pseudogout, bone spurs, or both -- and hit .209 with a .270 on-base percentage, and was lousy in the field to boot. Notably, Gregorious made a sparkling play in the field in the bottom of the fifth.
Stott is 4-for-10 with three walks. Gregorious is now 4-for-12 with a double and that borrowed-helmet homer.
Of course, this means Gregorious will henceforth wear his BP gloves, use his BP bat, shed the shin guard, and steal Haseley’s helmet for good, right? After all, he’s a baseball player, and they’re the quirkiest athletes on the planet.
“No, no,” he insisted. “It was just one day. I’m not superstitious.”
Haseley, on the other hand, is 2-for-12 and battling for a platoon slot in center field.
“That’d be nice,” Haseley said. “Hopefully, he put some hits in it.”