PHILADELPHIA — Otto Kemp’s rookie season has more or less played out in three phases.
The third baseman got his first callup on June 7 and performed fairly well, hitting .247 over 98 plate appearances until the All-Star break.
That’s when Alec Bohm went on the injured list, a Yu Darvish pitch fracturing his rib on July 12. Kemp stepped into the everyday job for the month that Bohm out and struggled, hitting .196 in 19 games. When Bohm came back, Kemp shuttled down to Triple A.
Kemp’s latest stint has lasted all of four games. But he’s looked more at home in the bigs, however small the sample.
Kemp homered for the second time in three games Thursday night, the first blow in a back-breaking, 6-4 rally past the New York Mets to complete a sweep.
Phillies third baseman Otto Kemp launches a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on Sept. 11, 2025 in Philadelphia. The Phillies defeated the Mets 6-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
He added an RBI double in the sixth, a fly ball to deep center that the Mets’ Jeff McNeil is still looking for, to tie the game at 4. He scored the go-ahead run on Harrison Bader’s single.
The sample is tiny. But Kemp went 5-for-13 against the Mets with two homers, five RBIs and four runs scored. That’s a solid series. Coming in a sweep of the Mets to reduce the magic number in the division to five and ameliorate at least for the time being concerns about Bohm landing on the IL Monday with left shoulder inflammation, it’s massive.
“I think that first experience, for sure, was a good thing, to get my feet under me and get a little bit of experience,” Kemp said. “I got to play through a couple of different roles and just learn how the game is played up here and try and settle in. So coming back, now I know the people, the teammates, the coaches, the competition, what it’s like up here. So a little bit easier to kind of get my feet under me and settle in.”
Kemp stayed ready at Lehigh Valley, hitting .300 with two homers and 12 RBIs in the 16 games since his Aug. 17 demotion. It’s allowed him to hit the ground running back in Philly.
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The Phillies’ outfield rotation is, for the moment, benefitting all four parties involved.
Yes, four.
Brandon Marsh has been excellent for the last three months, Bader can’t be taken out of the lineup, and Max Kepler is the team’s third most dangerous power bat. But Nick Castellanos has also responded.
Castellanos had two hits and a walk Thursday. In five games since he became no longer the everyday right fielder, he’s 7-for-18 with four runs scored and four RBIs in five games.
All four outfielders have been outstanding since Aug. 28, the end of the sky-wasn’t-actually-falling sweep at Citi Field.
Marsh is 19-for-41 (.463) with 10 runs scored and eight RBI. Bader is 22-for-53 (.415) with 13 runs scored and eight RBIs. Kepler is 9-for-33 (.272) with eight runs scored, 10 RBIs and three homers. The Phillies are 11-3 in that time.
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Speaking of Aug. 28, Phillies pitchers have the second-best ERA in baseball since that date at 3.07. Their starting pitchers have a 3.08 ERA in that time, sixth in MLB.
That’s all since weathering the loss of Zack Wheeler for the season with a diagnosis of venous thoracic outlet syndrome.
Jesus Luzardo’s gem Thursday night actually raised the ERA. He gave up four earned runs in eight innings. But that conceals the brilliance of the fact that he allowed four runs in the game’s first six hitters, then the Mets didn’t have another man reach base the rest of the way. Luzardo retired his last 22 batters, plus a perfect ninth from Jhoan Duran to make it 25.
“It’s hard to lose one of, if not the best, pitchers in baseball, so that’s difficult,” Luzardo said. “But the only thing we can do is continue and step up and try to do as well as we can. And I think that everyone’s done that and everyone’s put that on their shoulders and understanding that, we’ve go to eat up some innings and keep us in the game.”
For the season entering play Friday, the Phillies’ starting pitching ERA of 3.48 is second-best in baseball, Texas getting ahead of it at 3.32. But Phillies starters have logged the most innings – at 843.1, they enter Friday nearly 40 innings up on Arizona, in the same number of games – and their 19.3 WAR nearly four better than Cincinnati and 5.5 superior to Texas.
Originally Published: September 12, 2025 at 8:05 AM EDT