The Phillies have a centerfield problem, there’s no doubt about it.

Brandon Marsh doesn’t have a hit since March 30th. Johan Rojas shows flashes of being a good enough player, then looks like he belongs in AA 10 minutes later.

Marsh is a major league player, but he’s not a guy that the Phillies can trust right now to play 145 games per season. Everyone is screaming for Justin Crawford, but the Phillies aren’t going to make any mistakes with him. They like him a lot. They didn’t want to trade him on multiple occasions the last year and a half of a reason. They’re not going to just throw him into the majors blind and hope he figures it out.

Is it a coincidence that Otto Kemp made his first ever start in left field last night for Triple-A Lehigh Valley? Absolutely not:

Otto Kemp has been tearing the cover off of the baseball to start the Triple-A season. Before last night’s 0 for 5 performance, he was slashing .311/.411/.692 with 5 HRs, 14 RBIs, 9 walks, and 5 doubles in 16 games for the Iron Pigs. Kemp, just 25 years old, has played most of his games at either third base or first base. The Phillies don’t need a first baseman, I think we all know that. Do they need a third baseman? Maybe, although Alec Bohm is starting to come out of his slump and I don’t see the Phillies doing anything with Bohm unless it continues for a long period of time.


Kemp should be playing the outfield every game in the minors for the next two weeks. If the struggles continue in centerfield, somebody is going to have to take one of Marsh/Rojas’ spots. Hopefully the Iron Pigs leave him out there and let him get comfortable, because the Phillies could sure use some pop in their lineup right now, especially from the right side of the box. Can Max Kepler play centerfield? Yes. In fact, he’s played over 1,000 innings of CF in his major league career and has never made an error.

Otto Kemp in left, Max Kepler in center, Nick Castellanos in right, and Brandon Marsh off the bench as your 4th outfielder. Do it, Dave. We’re officially on #KempWatch.