Do you recall all of the excitement around Otto Kemp, a prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies? Fans were urging the club to switch out the icy Alec Bohm at third base for the fiery Kemp, who had been dominated by Triple-A pitching, what seems like an age ago.
All of that seems so distant today. Kemp, the No. 24 Phillies prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is still dominating for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, but Bohm’s comeback has obstructed his route to the major leagues.
Calling it a hot streak is getting harder. Since April 14, Bohm has been in the spotlight. According to Matt Gelb of The Athletic, it’s now a fantastic turnaround and a much improved rest-of-season picture (subscription needed) for the sixth-year player. Throughout the first two weeks of the season, he slashed.150/.164/.167. Before Sunday’s series finale against the Athletics, the 28-year-old has hit.321/.364/.481 with four home runs and 17 RBIs in 35 games since then.
Alec Bohm is back so Phillies prospect Otto Kemp will have to wait
Bohm has stepped it up recently. He is still hitting for average during his most recent run (.310), but he has resumed hitting for power. Before Sunday, he was slugging in his final 11 games. 595 with eight RBIs, three doubles, and three home runs. He has been batting in the bottom half of the lineup while doing this.
The fact that the power statistics are rising is no accident. Bohm hadn’t been making as many mistakes as he typically did before to this latest run. Prior to the opening game of the doubleheader on May 14, he was only pulling 26.6 percent of his hit balls, compared to a career-high 36.1 percent pull percentage the previous season. Since then, he’s drawing balls at a 38.9 percent clip and getting the barrel out.
He hit his first pulled home run of the season on Saturday night against the Athletics.
Kemp hasn’t exactly cooled down since his explosive start to the season, but Bohm is performing so brilliantly that any chance of a call-up is completely out of the question. In 20 May games, Kemp is hitting.333/.453/.513 with three home runs and 15 RBIs. He still has an absurd.323/.430/.613 slash line for the season, with 12 home runs and 42 RBIs in 48 games, which leads the International League.
There is even less prospect of a front office shake-up now that the Phillies have won 21 of their previous 27 games since their five-game losing streak in late April.
They may have one of the major leagues’ most established squads, leaving little opportunity for up-and-coming players to get into games. Even blazing talents like Kemp will have to wait in the minor leagues until a window, most likely brought on by an injury, opens up since a World Series is the Phillies’ ultimate and very attainable aim.
