Phillies prospect hit by pitch FOUR times in a single game

Phillies prospect hit by pitch FOUR times in a single game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The old baseball adage goes, if you watch enough baseball, you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before.

If Otto Kemp never heard that saying before, he now believes it.

Last night’s IronPigs/Columbus Clippers game at Coca-Cola Park was an eventful one. The big story was rehabbing Phillies starter Ranger Suarez, who took a big steps toward returning by throwing five shutout innings for Lehigh Valley in a 7-3 win for the ‘Pigs.

IronPigs third baseman Otto Kemp – the Phillies’ 24^th-ranked prospect – went 1-for-1 with his team-high seventh double of the season in last night’s victory. Kemp’s 2024 season began in single-A Clearwater, and was promoted three times – to high-A Jersey Shore, then to double-A Reading, then to the triple-A ‘Pigs.

A double in your only at bat is a good day. But did Otto really have a good day?

He actually came to the plate five times.

In the first inning, the first pitch he saw hit him in the thigh.

In the second inning, he took an off-speed pitch off his hand, but stayed in the game. He may regret that decision.

In the sixth, he watched a curve that didn’t curve hit him in his… hindparts.

Finally, in the seventh, a slider from a lefty hit him in his right ankle.

That’s four times he was hit by a pitch, a team record.

The MLB record for HBP in a single game is three, set many times. The minor leagues are so broad, and record-keeping isn’t as far-reaching or sophisticated, so it’s tough to say where Kemp stands, or limps.

While Kemp’s painful evening set a record, it isn’t anything he doesn’t have some experience with. Since the start of the 2023 season, counting last night, Kemp has been plunked 52(!) times.

That’s a lot of ice packs.