The narrative that the Phillies slow play their prospects lives on
With starting third baseman Alec Bohm slumping to open the season, and Otto Kemp going on a tear at Lehigh Valley, there has been a growing narrative among some Phillies fans that the Phillies should (must?) call up Kemp to supplant Bohm, and to do otherwise is just more example of organizational malpractice.
This fits in nicely with another long-existing narrative about the Phillies: They are too slow to promote their prospects.
It’s because they prefer all of their rookies to debut at 28 https://t.co/tqair4MRcW
— John Kincade (@JohnKincade) May 5, 2025
If you press anyone who makes a claim that the Phillies are always slow to promote prospects, the first names you’ll hear are Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.
True criticism, and it did not start recently. They have always delayed the start of the major league clock. Ryan Howard is the most obvious example. I remember talking about this topic 20 years ago.
— Toastman from Philly (@Toastmanpa) May 5, 2025
Howard and Utley came though the Phillies’ system over 20 years and four general managers ago. They were also drafted out of college which by nature will lead to older debuts. Most importantly, both were blocked at the major league level by good players (Placido Polanco and Jim Thome).
Even then, the Phillies did promote some of their prospects at younger ages. During that era, Brett Myers was called up at age 21, Cole Hamels at 22, and Jimmy Rollins at 21.
Now that we’ve covered guys from a generation ago, are there any examples of the Phillies recently taking too long to promote players? Bohm and Bryson Stott were on the older side when they reached the big leagues, but not egregiously so. Also, both were college players, and COVID helped delay their timelines.
Perhaps there’s a case that once they reached the majors, some of the younger players didn’t get much playing time in favor of veterans, but that was more of a Joe Girardi issue, and one of the reasons he was fired.
With this lineup (playing bad veterans over young players), I can’t help but think Joe Girardi is actively trying to get himself fired. https://t.co/7SOdKnJo56
— … (@DTMattSmith) October 1, 2021
It would be great if the Phillies could call up a teenage wunderkind like Juan Soto or Ronald Acuna, Jr, but those players are rare. It certainly seemed like the team was going to start the 2023 season with a 19-year-old Andrew Painter on the roster before he suffered an injury.
The real conversation isn’t that the Phillies have been too conservative with promoting player, but rather that they haven’t had many young prospects good enough to be called up. Let’s hope that the current group of prospects like Aidan Miller and Eduardo Tait can earn quick promotions, and we can help put an end to the narrative.