ALLENTOWN – Taking a seat in the third base dugout with more than the usual number of reporters circling around him prior to a game with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Otto Kemp never thought he would be the one drawing the attention. How could he? He signed as an undrafted free agent with a history of injuries.
Otto Kemp turning heads in Lehigh Valley
But thanks to an impressive start to his first full season at the highest level of minor league baseball, Kemp is knocking on the door of reaching the big leagues. Yet, the Fullerton, California native is focusing on staying in the moment.
“I personally try and do the best I can to be where my feet are and be present, silencing all that noise. The Phillies are going to make their moves when they make their moves and I don’t have any control of that. Just trusting them and trusting the process.”
Kemp’s bat has been anything but silencing. Recently named the International League Player for the Month of April and the Phillies’ Co-Hitter of the month, Kemp has burst onto the scene thanks to his thunderous bat.
“He’s been tremendous and the numbers speak for themselves,” Director of Player Development Luke Murton said. “It’s the culmination of the person and representation of who he is, how hard he’s worked and how talented he is.”
The numbers Murton alluded to are hard to ignore. At the end of April, Kemp was tied for the league lead in home runs with eight and paced the league in slugging percentage while second in RBIs, OPS and tied for second in hits. He slashed .330/.421/.711 with a 1.132 OPS in his first full month in Triple-A with eight home runs and 24 RBIs.
This comes after closing out last season playing in 13 games with the IronPigs hitting a paltry .200 in 45 at-bats where he also struck out 11 times. A performance that lingered with Kemp heading into the offseason.
“I was not happy with how I performed in the last two-and-a-half weeks of the season last year. That was a little bit of motivation going into the Arizona Fall League. That’s not really who I am, I promise. I think I showed that. It puts little bit of a chip on your shoulder to get you to work with a little more detail,” Kemp said.
Kemp’s work ethic has played an integral part for his rapid rise to the forefront of the club’s farm system.
Working Hard as a Walk On
Kemp’s circuitous journey features many highs and lows. After garnering Division I interest as a junior in high school, he tore a ligament in his knee late that season requiring surgery. On the first day back on the field his senior season and eager to show those interested schools he was ready to compete and produce, he tore the same ligament forcing him to miss the entire spring. Suddenly, all the interest surrounding the teenager dried up. He had no offers to play at the college level.
He walked on at Point Loma Nazarene University, a Division II program in San Diego and home of the Sea Lions out of the PacWest Conference. It was a perfect fit according to Kemp’s college coach Justin James who took over as head coach of the program in Kemp’s freshman year.
“When I took over to try and set the culture, he took all of the trainings and philosophy with it,” James recalled. “He was by far the hardest worker.”
According to James, Kemp constantly put extra work in. Whether taking extra swings between classes, being the first one to arrive to the field to set up batting practice, often staying late after practice to get more work in. Kemp was always looking to do more.
“It’s in his DNA. He will outwork people and that’s most important to him. He doesn’t look at it as extra work,” James said.
That mental makeup proved to be beneficial for Kemp, especially having to endure multiple screeching halts to his career with the Sea Lions. Just 13 games into his first season, Kemp had a blood clot in his shoulder forcing him to miss the rest of the season. The following season, while diving into second base he dislocated his shoulder tearing his labrum. A few weeks later, the pandemic hit.
Post pandemic, Kemp turned in an impressive senior season despite playing with a broken hamate bone. That did not stop him from leading the Sea Lions to a national runner-up finish where he smacked a home run as part of a two-hit day in the national championship game making him a perfect 61-for-61 in reaching base in every game of the historic season.
“It was never a poor me feel with Otto,” James said. “It was alright, what do I need to do to overcome this to become a great player and be the best teammate.”
James added: “He has a true pro approach as a young guy. He never wavered. He’s a special dude.”
Hardly scouted to knocking on the door
The work ethic and professional approach caught the eyes of Phillies’ area scout Zach Friedman, who also is the signing scout for Justin Crawford. Friedman was one of the only scouts on Kemp’s trail.
“My first year in SoCal was Otto’s junior year of college which was the year after Covid. We weren’t allowed to come to games to start the spring at PLNU. Justin (James) sent an email out in the spring talking about Otto and I made it a priority to see him play.”
Friedman eventually saw Kemp in action during his senior season. Despite PLNU not having Trackman and the analytics for Friedman to dive into at the time, the eye test was more than feasible to evaluate Kemp.
“Every time I went to a game, he always did something that stood out. Whether it was having good at bats, a good approach, he showed the tools of being a very good offensive player.”
Shane Bowers, the club’s West Coast cross checker and Keith Werman now the team’s Florida Complex Coordinator both saw Kemp as well and agreed with Freidman’s assessment. Friedman thought Kemp was worthy of a day two selection, but Kemp never received a call.
“Going undrafted was a stab to the heart honestly,” Kemp said. “I didn’t know what pro ball looked like after that and what opportunities would look like. I didn’t really have anybody I knew that went into pro ball, so I didn’t really know what that road was going to look like.”
That road map became clearer the day after the draft. Friedman called now Assistant General Manager, Amateur Scouting Brian Barber.
“I said he [Kemp] is a good player and I’m surprised he wasn’t drafted. I would like to sign him if there was an opportunity for him.”
The opportunity was there.
“Zach deserves a lot of credit,” Murton said. “We are very proud of the signing.”
Kemp not resting on his laurels once he signed his contract, has been bringing his bring your lunch pail to work mantra to each stop in the organizational ladder. It is one of the traits that has impressed Murton the most.
“He’s improving all aspects of his game. There are very few players that you can see where across the board they get better every year with base running, defense, hitting. It’s a testament to his work ethic and his attitude to get better.”
Lehigh Valley’s manager Anthony Contreras recalls a specific moment earlier this season where Kemp showed his ability to improve the little details of his game.
“He hit a ball to left field, kind of watched the left fielder juggle it a bit. He didn’t shut it down around first. His eyes were on that throw the whole time and he took second base. I told him, the double is great, but the ability to read that throw and get the extra 90, that’s the stuff that is going to be winning baseball in Philadelphia.”
Contreras says that a lot of people within the organization and the game describe Kemp in a simple but impactful way. “He’s a ball player.”
“We don’t say that term lightly. That is kind of the ultimate compliment to a guy. He’s gritty, asks the right questions and trying to get better every single day.”
Determined on his journey
Kemp understands that striving to improve daily will improve his worth as “a ball player”.
“I think that’s been one of the biggest things for me. Just trying to take steps every single year. This is a game where it takes a really long time to develop and why it takes guys so long to make their debut. But if I can come to the park and work on all these different aspects of my game, I can live with the times I go 0-for-4 and have a bad night, but at least I did everything I possibly could to prepare to the best of my ability.”
At the plate, adjustments made in his first pro season have stuck with Kemp.
“Luke (Murton) and Edwar Gonzalez, our hitting director, made some full swing changes in 2023 that I have held onto and have developed into more minute things. Those certain mechanics we have worked on are still things I am riding on each day and will be continuing to build on each day.”
So far so good for Kemp.
“He has destroyed Triple-A to this point. I’m not surprised but pleased where he’s at,” Murton said.
“I’m not surprised,” Friedman said regarding the success Kemp is having. “He’s a great kid who has worked his butt off and has always had tools and ability.”
In addition to his offensive prowess, the organization is moving Kemp around the field to expand his versatility improving his chances of being a potential future piece to help an already strong roster in Philadelphia. Kemp has made starts in left field, first base and second base with the majority of his starts coming at his primary position at third.
“We have a good major league team so we are trying to find where these talented players will fit. Getting him experience at different spots where he could potentially play in the bigs, we want to equip him with the most options available and whatever he lands on he lands on,” Murton said on the defensive approach regarding Kemp.
Murton continued: “I don’t want to limit his ability to be an impactful everyday player. During Spring Training, you could see he fits in with the MLB clubhouse. He looks the part.”
As for Kemp, whether he is penciled in at his usual third base or out in left field in Lehigh Valley or when he gets that moment in Contreras’ office where he learns he will become a big leaguer, that ball player will put his head down and get to work, just like he has done for the past four years.
“It’s been a cool process to look back four years ago and my name didn’t get called and see where we are at. That’s the beauty of dreaming. If you do everything you can one day at a time you are going to be in a good position whether you like it or not.”
Photo By: TMB/Icon Sportswire
