Art Charles Providing Left Handed Power At Double-A Reading

By Matt Leon

The Reading Fightin' Phils, the Double-A team of the Phillies, have garnered a lot of attention this year because of a starting rotation littered with top propsects, including last year's first-round pick Aaron Nola.

But there are also some promising position players suiting up for Reading. That group includes 24-year-old first baseman Art Charles. A left-handed hitter, Charles is hitting .303 in 27 games this season for Reading with five home runs and 18 runs batted in. This comes after a 2014 season at Single-A Clearwater where he hammered 19 home runs, but hit just .229.

"Kind of what I've been doing and changing up in my approach and what not is just being more patient at the plate," Charles tells KYW Newsradio. "Seeing the ball up in the zone and not missing those fastballs as much when I get them. But for the most part just seeing the off-speed pitches up and making them have to pitch to me, rather than me chasing pitches and getting myself out."

Listen to the entire interview with Reading's Art Charles

As with most hitters who can hit for power, Charles does strikeout. But he is making better contact this season. He whiffed 156 times in 446 at-bats in 2014 at Clearwater. This season he has 28 strikeouts in 99 at-bats, even more encouraging when you consider the dip in strikeouts comes after moving up a level.

Charles was actually drafted in the 20th round by Toronto in 2010. The Phillies acquired him in a trade prior to the 2013 season for relief pitcher Michael Schwimer.

"It was kind of shocking at first," Charles says. "But after I kind of learned a little bit of the specifics about it and kind of the opportunities that I have in this organization, I wasn't mad about it at all. The Phillies organization welcomed me with open arms and treated me as one of their own right away and made the transition easy. I'm happy I'm here, happy I'm a Phillies ballplayer."

Charles has moved up a level every year since the Phillies acquired him and he feels like he brings a lot to the table.

"Obviously I'm a big target at first base," Charles says. "That plays to my strength a little bit. Makes it easier for my fellow infielders to kind of hit me. At the plate, I have gap-to-gap power. I have the ability to drive in runs and hit home runs. I've gotten a lot better defensively as well. I just have to keep working at that, working on my agility and my footwork and training myself to become the best player that I can be."

Charles is playing his home games these days a little more than an hour away from Citizens Bank Park. So does the thought of what it would be like to get the call to come east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike ever creep in?

"If I was to tell you I never thought about it, I'd be lying," Charles says. "I feel like we all think about it. But obviously we have to keep our mind on the task at hand and kind of live down here and live one pitch at a time. But I definitely think about. I visualize it. I visualize and see myself in the big leagues as a big league player and being successful. Just realizing that it's a possibility, it is close, it helps you. It motivates you. But the biggest thing is just making sure you're taking care of business at this level where you're at, at this time. As long as you do that and you do well and you make sure you are doing all the things you need to do get done here and producing, the rest will take care of itself."

Charles and the rest of the Reading squad return to action tomorrow night, opening a weekend series in Portland.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.