So far during the 2026 season, Otto Kemp has not been what the Phillies wanted him to be. An inept front office pinned all of their hopes and dreams on a 26-year-old former undrafted free agent who has less than a year’s worth of experience at the major league level. Kemp proved in April that he was not the knight in shining armor that the Phillies needed, but considering how awful the team is at hitting lefty pitchers, they’re getting back onto the merry-go-round in the hopes that he can cure some of their ills.
To be clear, Kemp is not the villain of this story. The Californian utilityman has turned himself into a big leaguer despite being passed over by every single team coming out of college. In fact, he acquitted himself decently well, if unspectacularly, with a .709 OPS across 218 major league plate appearances in 2025.
With decent speed and the ability to hold a glove at multiple positions, he’s shown the makings of a cromulent MLB bench piece. There’s nothing wrong with having Otto Kemp as the 26th man on the Phillies’ roster.
Dave Dombrowski is the one hurting the Phillies, not Otto Kemp
Unfortunately, clueless president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was under the impression that Kemp was the second coming of Wes Chamberlain, and would form a formidable platoon partnership in left field with Brandon Marsh serving as his Jim Eisenreich. That couldn’t have been further from the truth as Kemp limped out to a tragic .100/.182/.100 slash line and displayed woeful outfield defense over his first ten games this year before being optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
In his place, Dombrowski brought in rising prospect Felix Reyes, who had worked to an excellent 1.000 OPS with the Ironpigs to that point. Reyes made waves by clubbing a home run off of future Hall of Famer Chris Sale in his first major league at bat, but has collected just five hits in 37 plate appearances since then while providing horrifying defense similar to Kemp’s.
The Phillies as a whole have been terrible against left-handed pitching in 2026, posting an ugly .672 collective OPS in 555 plate appearances against southpaws. The lack of production in left field has been a big part of that black hole, as the failures of Kemp and Reyes have created even more uncertainty in a lineup dominated by lefty swingers.
Dombrowski had ample opportunity over the winter to address an offense that has completely disappeared for large portions of the past five seasons, and yet he chose to sit on his hands. The ill-fated Bo Bichette courtship was a nice attempt, but when that went down in flames Dombrowski pivoted to throwing far too much money at the aging J.T. Realmuto and calling it a day. While fans are glad to have the beloved backstop back in the fold, that did nothing to bolster a lineup that simply isn’t good enough.
Reeling in a star like Bichette would have been fantastic, but that wasn’t the only option Dombrowski had. He could have brought in any number of veteran platoon outfielders like Rob Refsnyder, Miguel Andujar, Randal Grichuk, or old friend Austin Hays, all of whom settled for cheap one-year deals. Instead, the unproven Kemp was crowned the heir apparent.
In spite of all that, Kemp wasn’t even given the smallest amount of leash. 10 games (of admittedly terrible play) were all it took for Dombrowski and company to waive the white flag on their cockamamie scheme and turn things over to Felix Reyes: the next sacrificial lamb.
Reyes has been unplayable for the Phillies, and the 25-year-old was clearly rushed to the majors in an effort to help patch a gaping hole created by the front office. Now that he’s proven himself not to be the answer in left field, Reyes has been sent back down to Triple-A and Kemp has been promoted in his place. Perhaps this time things will click.
Prior to tonight’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, the Phillies recalled INF/OF Otto Kemp from Lehigh Valley (AAA). To make room on the 26-man roster, INF/OF Felix Reyes was optioned to Lehigh Valley following yesterday’s game.
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 18, 2026
There are reasons to think Kemp will perform better this time around. His 2025 season was decent enough, and the solid .792 minor league OPS he posted since his demotion a few weeks back seems much more in line with who he is than the brutal .282 mark he put up with the parent club to begin the year. Still, Kemp looks much more like a Quad-A depth piece than a true difference-maker at this point.
Dombrowski’s half-baked roster construction has failed the Phillies time and time again, and the Otto Kemp/Felix Reyes left field circus is just the latest example of the game passing the veteran executive by. Phillies fans are all hoping that this time around Kemp will put everything together, but if that doesn’t happen it’s not Kemp they should be angry with, but the man that continually puts the team in a position to fail: Dave Dombrowski.
Add us as a preferred source on Google