We’re All Phillies Phanatics Here!
Rob, Sam, and Otto
As many of you know, Rob and Diane Kemp have been active in their children’s sports life for many years. They thought they hit the pinnacle when their youngest son, Otto, played in the Division 2 World Series in Cary, NC during his senior year at Point Loma Nazarene University. However, Otto’s dream of playing baseball continued when he signed a professional minor league contract last summer to play baseball with the Philadelphia Phillies!
Otto left the day after signing to report to Clearwater, Florida where the Phillies have their minor league sports complex. His fall season was full of long days — running drills, lifting, hitting, as well as working with a nutritionist and mental coach to play his best game. Over winter, he came home for 4 months and then reported back for his first Spring Training with the Phillies in March. Diane and Rob went to their first Spring Training ever and got to watch Otto scrimmage, perform drills, play infield and hit bombs during batting practice! They spent 3 days on the back fields of the Spring Training complex admiring the incredible talent of all the players. Candidly, it was an eye-opening experience to see the significant jump in caliber of play from college to professional ball. Every player is really good!
Playing professional baseball is NOT as glamourous as one might think. These athletes don’t just show up to the game and play. Instead, they have long, ten-hour days every day — structured with training, workouts, batting practice, and a lot of meals to stay fueled up in advance of game time. And then, as Otto would say, “rinse and repeat”. They only have Mondays off and then they are back at it on Tuesdays for the week.
Otto plays for the Clearwater Threshers — the Phillies’ minor league team. Thresher games are played Tuesday through Saturday at 6:30pm EST and at noon on Sundays. While games are not televised, thankfully there is streaming audio for every game. It’s not just Rob and Diane that are glued to the audio, the entire family keeps the games on in the background. They have a text thread to quickly celebrate together when defensive plays are made — and of course good at bats! The whole family is keeping track of his daily stats regardless of what’s happening in their daily routines.
Because Otto will be playing baseball through September and unable to come home, the entire family is planning to attend some games in July together. There will be 11 of them in total, including Otto’s newest niece, Amaya. It will be his siblings’ first time seeing him play in person in the minor leagues, and his first time meeting his niece!
For those of you not familiar with the minor league system, players generally start at the lowest level and work their way up the ladder towards the major leagues. From the lowest to highest it goes: Low-A, High-A, Double A, Triple A then the Major Leagues. In the case of the Phillies, Low-A is located in Clearwater, Florida while the other teams are in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. You can be moved from one team or location to another within 24 hours or less. The ultimate goal is of course to get into the Major Leagues, but getting there is not easy. According to Chasing MLB Dreams, “Out of all players who play minor league baseball, about 10% of those players who sign contracts each year will play at least 1 game in the majors.” This is why Rob’s mantra to Otto continues to be “Dream Big!”
The entire Kemp family is full of Angel fans, but the Phillies gear is taking over! The Kemps love and celebrate sports, but even more so, they celebrate family. Otto would tell you he would not be where he is today without the support of his family!