CLEARWATER, Fla. - How did Scott Kingery get here? He begged. That's how the story begins, really. It wasn't pathetic, obsequious, down-on-your-knees begging, but it was begging nonetheless, and there's nothing wrong with saying that, because it worked. He helped get him here - to spring training with the Phillies, to a status as the organization's presumptive second baseman of the future - and it created, for him, a connection to a particularly famous ex-teammate of his. But we'll get to that ex-teammate in a bit. First, the begging.
A few years ago, Kingery was a pretty good shortstop at Mountain Pointe High School in Phoenix, but he wasn't good enough, at least in the minds of any Division I coaches, to play at the highest level of college baseball.