Scott Kingery

Scott Michael Kingery (born April 29, 1994) is an American professional baseball utility player in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Kingery was born on April 29, 1994, in Phoenix, Arizona.

His father Tom was a corporate account manager for American Express, while his mother Patti taught preschool for a private school in the Phoenix area.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Kingery's baseball career began with a trip to the 2006 Little League World Series.

From there, he attended Mountain Pointe High School, where college recruiters overlooked his skill at shortstop due to his small frame.

Kingery originally committed to play college baseball for Central Arizona College but ultimately accepted an offer to play for the Arizona Wildcats baseball team as a preferred walk-on.

Kingery and his twin brother Sam both played baseball from the age of five, with their father serving as their coach through 2006, when the Kingery family appeared in the Little League World Series.

The Kingerys' Ahwatukee Foothills Little League team won the West Region to advance to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; Scott played shortstop, while Sam was at second base.

Kingery and the rest of the Ahwatukee team were eliminated in the semifinals, losing a head-to-head matchup against a team from Columbus, Georgia.

Always small for his size, Kingery's childhood role model was Dustin Pedroia, who was playing college baseball at the time for the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Pedroia, who ended up playing in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox, was a similarly undersized middle infielder, and Kingery modeled his playing style after that fashion.

While Kingery played baseball at Mountain Pointe High School in Ahwatukee, his coach said that he had "that 'it' factor ... He just knew how to make plays and just did things that just separated him from everybody else."

As a junior during the 2011 high school baseball season, Kingery batted .495 with 10 home runs and 39 runs batted in (RBIs).

He posted similar numbers as a senior, batting .485 with eight home runs and 36 RBIs.

Despite the strong offensive numbers that Kingery put up in high school, he was overlooked by many college baseball coaches because of his short stature; by his high school graduation, Kingery was only 5 ft tall.

He initially committed to play for Central Arizona College, but was told by a number of NCAA Division I schools that, should some of the players that they recruited decide to play professionally out of high school, there might be room for Kingery on the team.

Kingery sent a number of emails to Division I coaches and eventually received an offer from the University of Arizona to play on the team as a recruited walk-on.

Because the Arizona Wildcats baseball team had a number of shortstop options when Kingery was a freshman, he was assigned to play in center field for his first two seasons of college play.

As a freshman in 2012, Kingery batted .261 in 30 starts, with 30 hits and 22 runs scored in 41 total appearances.

The following year, he pushed his batting average up to .354, with 26 RBIs and 19 stolen bases, enough for an All-Pac-12 Conference team selection.

The summer after his sophomore year of college, Kingery played for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League, a wooden bat collegiate summer baseball league.

In 33 Cape Cod games, Kingery batted .312 with five doubles, one triple, and two home runs, and he played in the Cape Cod All-Star game.

At the end of the season, Kingery was named the Pac-12 Conference Baseball Player of the Year; he was the first Wildcat to receive the award since Alex Mejia in 2012.

The Phillies selected Kingery in the second round, 48th overall, of the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft, and he played with the team from 2018 to 2022.

He played his first two seasons in the outfield before switching to second base as a junior in 2015; there, Kingery was named the Pac-12 Conference Baseball Player of the Year and was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award.

After signing with Philadelphia in 2015, Kingery spent the next three seasons rising through the Phillies' farm system, including an appearance at the 2017 All-Star Futures Game.

As a junior during the 2015 college baseball season, Kingery moved from the outfield to second base.

There, he led the Pac-12 Conference with a .392 batting average, 53 runs scored, 93 hits, and 133 total bases.

Additionally, he recorded 15 doubles, five triples, five home runs, 36 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases in 54 games.

Defensively, Kingery had a .975 fielding percentage and was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team, as well as the All-Pac-12 team.

Kingery was also a finalist for the 2015 Golden Spikes Award, given to the best college baseball player in the US.

The Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB) selected Kingery in the second round, 48th overall, of the 2015 MLB Draft.

Kingery signed with the Phillies on June 16, 2015, for a signing bonus of $1,259,600.

He began his professional baseball career as the starting second baseman for the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws of the South Atlantic League, where he posted a .250 average with three home runs, 21 RBIs, and 43 runs scored in 252 at bats.

Kingery's middle infield partner, shortstop Kevin Newman, had been taken 17th overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Phillies signed Kingery to a six-year contract extension just before the 2018 season, and he made his major league debut that opening day.

The Phillies told Kingery, who had primarily played middle infield positions, that he was to be used as a utility player, and he spent the bulk of his rookie season at shortstop.

The following year, a depleted Phillies bench pushed Kingery to the outfield as his batting average and home run numbers continued to improve.

Kingery's career suffered in 2020 due to lingering effects of the COVID-19 virus, and on June 7, 2021, he was designated for assignment and outrighted to the minor leagues.