It’s getting harder to ignore Otto Kemp, but ignore him we must

There just isn’t anywhere for him to go

For the month of April, the International League chose it’s best hitter, the International League being one that comprises many AAA-level teams. That’s a lot of hitters, but one stood out among them all in April.

Look closely at that graphic and there are a lot of ranks that include firsts and seconds there. That’s not just among players on the Ironpigs; that’s in all of the International League. It’s why it is getting more and more difficult to ignore what Kemp has been doing at the Phillies’ AAA-level Lehigh Valley team. Put up those kinds of numbers and there is bound to be notice coming from multiple outlets. One might even say that Kemp was due for a promotion, even this early in the season. Those numbers might just reflect a hot month, but he hit for most of 2024 and hit well. While it’s never a good thing to scout a statline, sometimes it just gets too hard to ignore.

Let’s get one thing straight before we continue: the Phillies aren’t going to be supplanting Alec Bohm anytime soon.

First round picks have a remarkable ability to hang around the major leagues, regardless of the production they put up. Bohm has been pretty much the epitome of “fine” while in the major leagues. In the five seasons prior to this, he has posted wRC+ numbers of 138, 76, 98, 106 and 115. Last year, he was a deserving All-Star thanks to his impressive first half numbers and has made himself good enough with the glove, thanks to a ton of hard work, that he can at least be considered slightly above average, a far cry from where he was just three years ago. He’s been an important member of the team for those five years now and while the team did show an interest in upgrading the position in the offseason, they simply won’t do it yet.

The key word there is “yet”. The reason there is even a conversation to be had is that Bohm has been pretty rough this season from a surface level numbers point of view. The stuff that teams like to hone in on has been much, much better, leading one to believe that perhaps better days are ahead. It’s not unheard of for a player to perform much worse than his peripheral numbers for a long stretch, but for an entire season? If there are still issues with Bohm come midseason, when the trade season is up and running, they could look for an upgrade.

Going back to Kemp…

Top prospect lists are usually populated by players drafted in the first few rounds of the MLB draft or those that are given large bonuses during the international signing period. There aren’t really that many players that are outside of that scope that many prospect evaluators feel confident enough to say that they’ll reach the major leagues and have a sizable impact. Maybe they’ll work their way into a platoon, maybe they’ll have a hot few weeks and/or months, but most of the time, those guys usually fall back to earth.

Kemp, so far this year, has done nothing but hit and hit well. In 2024, he was playing across four different levels of minor league ball, finally coming into some resistance once he reached Lehigh Valley at the end of the year. This year, while at that same level, he has posted an OPS over 1.000, hitting, as you saw above, his tenth home run over the weekend. That kind of production, coupled with the lack of production from Bohm at the third base position in the major leagues, is going to lead to calls for a change.

The issue is: how is it even going to be possible for Kemp to come up?

The team made it a point of making sure that Weston Wilson was on the roster by letting go of Kody Clemens, basically for free. There was a dearth of right handed options to help complement the left handed bats of Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh that also had the ability to play the outfield outside of Johan Rojas, hence the Edmundo Sosa Magical Mystery Tour on the grass. Over his tenure, Clemens had proven to be a valuable bench bat the Phillies could lean on, but simply had nowhere else to go on a team full of left handed hitters. Wilson’s right handed bat is already on the 40-man roster and with all of the injuries out and about in major league baseball, it would be a near certainty that a team would have snatched him were the Phillies to let go of him. His ability to handle all four corners of the field (and probably second base) is a valuable resource for a team like the Phillies, one that utilizes their bench to gain platoon advantages often. Kemp’s right handedness probably means that for now, he’s blocked.

Unless something were to happen to Wilson, something that kept him out for an extended period of, Kemp is likely stay in Lehigh Valley, tearing up the joint. The team is at least preparing for the life of a utility player. He’s played four different positions this season – third, second, first bases and left field – so maybe there is a plan in place for him to get promoted. Maybe down the road, the path to his even getting a few at bats in Philadelphia might open up, but were that to happen, injuries would have had to have hit the roster in a rather substantial way.

Otto Kemp has had a great start to the 2025 season. There should be consideration for his promotion in the near future if something should happen to Weston Wilson. For now, there just isn’t anywhere for him to go, particularly when he’s somewhat limited in where he can play on the field. For a team that values being able to move around the diamond, that’s an issue. Maybe he becomes more viable in 2026 if the team is looking for a different mix for their bench. For this season, he’s probably going to have to wait a little while longer.