The Phillies have made it clear how they feel about Otto Kemp. Once you understand how he got here, it makes sense why.<\/p>\n
Kemp didn\u2019t come from a powerhouse college program. He attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, a Division II school. The production was anything but modest.<\/p>\n
Across 121 collegiate games with the Sea Lions, Kemp hit .356, slugged 33 home runs and posted a 1.124 OPS. During his senior season in 2022, he reached base in all 61 games he played.<\/p>\n
Still, when the Draft arrived, his name never came up.<\/p>\n
MLB had already reduced the Draft from 50 rounds to 40 in 2012. During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, it dropped to just 20. For a Division II infielder without national exposure, the odds were steep.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the Draft concluded, though, the Phillies called. Kemp signed a minor-league contract and went to work.<\/p>\n
He showed promise early. Between Rookie ball and Single-A Clearwater in his first two professional seasons, Kemp hit his way onto the organization\u2019s radar while playing primarily second and third base \u2014 the same positions he manned in college.<\/p>\n
Then came 2024, when things moved quickly.<\/p>\n
Kemp opened the season at Single-A, hit .500 over five games, and earned a promotion. At High-A Jersey Shore, he posted a .973 OPS, which earned him a move to Double-A Reading. There, he hit 11 home runs with an .829 OPS in 64 games \u2014 enough to send him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to finish the year.<\/p>\n
Five affiliates in only 248 professional games into his career.<\/p>\n
Kemp capped the year in the Arizona Fall League, where he continued expanding his defensive profile, adding first base and corner outfield to the list. The offense followed. He hit six home runs, slugged .733, and posted a 1.193 OPS against top-end competition.<\/p>\n
By then, the Phillies were no longer evaluating whether Kemp could help, only where.<\/p>\n
That momentum carried into 2025. Kemp opened the season at Triple-A and earned his first Major League call-up on June 7.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTHERE YA GO, OTTO! Someone’s going to have to get that ball back for Otto. 8-0 Phillies!\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The transition wasn\u2019t seamless \u2014 or painless.<\/p>\n
On June 17, Kemp fouled a ball off his kneecap, chipping the bone. He also dealt with a left shoulder issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty banged up,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cI had to get two procedures done, one on my knee, one on my shoulder [in the offseason]. They removed a bone fragment from my knee\u2026 I was able to grind it through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kemp was optioned back to Lehigh Valley in mid-August after posting a .657 OPS over his first 46 big league games and 161 plate appearances.<\/p>\n
The versatility remained constant. He played first base, second base, third base and left field.<\/p>\n
His third stint in Triple-A helped him re-evaluate everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat reset was big for me,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cIt allowed me to take a step back and look at where I was\u2026 trying to get back to what I believe in and what plays best for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In those 16 Triple-A contests, Kemp reached base safely in 13, recorded five multi-hit games and earned another call back to the big leagues.<\/p>\n
This time, the production came with impact.<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat a night for the 26-year-old. He gets the Phillies on the board with a two-run blast in the fourth, then ties the game in the sixth.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
In his final 16 regular-season games, Kemp posted an .858 OPS, collected eight extra-base hits and hit four home runs \u2014 three on the first pitch.<\/p>\n
That stretch included a start in left field during the National League Division Series, a position Kemp had only begun playing consistently last season.<\/p>\n
When the season ended, Kemp finally had time to process how quickly everything had moved \u2014 not just the debut or the injuries, but the scope of a year that changed his career.<\/p>\n
\u201c[My wife and I] got to spend some time together after the season ended and just look back at it,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cThe relationships, the places we got to go, all the stuff we got to experience \u2014 it was really special to go through that with my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Kemp, the Phillies carried a great deal of optimism into the offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Otto has a chance to be an everyday player,\u201d Dave Dombrowski said at season\u2019s end. \u201cThat ball jumps off his bat. We really like him. We like his makeup. He can play a couple different positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering 2026, Kemp\u2019s role is still coming into focus. Rob Thomson has suggested he could factor into a platoon \u2014 potentially alongside Brandon Marsh in left field \u2014 especially given Kemp\u2019s .786 OPS against left-handed pitching at the big-league level.<\/p>\n
Defense \u2014 around the diamond \u2014 remains a point of emphasis as he enters his first full season in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s overall comfort,\u201d Kemp said. \u201cEvery place you play, the dimensions are different\u2026 just learning how to play through that is the biggest part moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomson has pointed to something else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, he\u2019s just so tough,\u201d the manager said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys that can put all that pain and little dings behind him and go out and play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kemp\u2019s path is certainly rare. Based on Baseball-Reference, Baseball Almanac and Division II program bios, only nine players \u2014 including Kemp and former Phillies All-Star Ricky Bottalico \u2014 have attended an NCAA Division II school, gone undrafted and appeared in a Major League game.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t frame that as an endpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that don\u2019t stick,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully, I\u2019m trying to prove I can be one of those guys that can get established up here.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the Phillies, that belief is already there. Now, it\u2019s about what Kemp does with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies have made it clear how they feel about Otto Kemp. Once you understand how he got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,16702],"class_list":{"0":"post-535188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-phillies-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115946871134102897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}