PHILADELPHIA — It had been a whirlwind summer for Orion Kerkering. He had been selected by the Phillies in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB draft after pitching a couple of seasons at the University of South Florida, and he embarked at the low levels on a pro career. So when his uncle called him up last fall and said hey, he knew this guy, so if the kid could front some plane ticket money, maybe Unc could fashion him a few World Series tickets.
That’s how Kerkering found himself watching Game 3 of the World Series last fall, sitting in Citizens Bank Park with his dad and girlfriend, watching the Phillies beat the Houston Astros 7-0, wondering what it would be like to someday pitch for that winning home team in this park. You know, maybe around … “2025,” Kerkering said Friday.
But earlier in the day the Phillies boosted that timeline up just a bit. After starting the season with low-Class A Clearwater, and having just been promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley earlier this week, Kerkering was sitting in the Phillies dugout, readying for his first game with a major league team.
“I didn’t think anything would happen because I was in Triple-A for like three days,” the 22-year-old righthanded reliever with the super slider said. “Then to get that call was really, really weird. I had to cancel everything, pack my bag and get down here.
“My goal (this season) was just getting to Double A. Now, being here is just really different. I’m not used to anything like this. I have to get used to it now.”
Because he was in the organization as of Aug. 31, Kerkering is eligible for postseason duty. That is, he’s eligible if a guy named Rhys Hoskins won’t be. Kerkering can be eligible as an injury replacement, with Hoskins the likely guy since he’s on the 60-day injured list and was listed as a “longshot” recently by manager Rob Thomson to be available at any point of the postseason.
Thomson was hedging on that Friday, noting Hoskins still has a long way to go, but is taking batting practice, so, “…if there are no setbacks, we’ll see.”
Oh.
Of course, if there’s another injury that suddenly occurs to a 40-man rosteree … it could work that way, too.
Either way, Kerkering was available in the bullpen against the Mets Friday night for the start of what amounts to an audition.
“It’s just ’cause the stuff’s so good,” Thomson said. “He’s had a great year; 60 innings, 80-some strikeouts, 13 walks; a strike thrower, high velocity and a slider that’s really, really good. We wanted to get a major league baseball in his hands so we got him up to Triple-A last week. Didn’t seem to affect him at all, so now we’ll put him in this environment.”
OK, so it didn’t affect him in Triple-A, but then, he had one, one-inning outing with the IronPigs.
“I thought I’d get more time there, obviously,” Kerkering said.
Maybe he didn’t realize that this Phillies bullpen wasn’t exactly stocked with reliable righties right now.
“His stuff’s good,” Thomson reiterated. “We’ll see how he does. … We’ll watch as we use him.”
The manager added that “three or four times” for Kerkering as a Phillies reliever should be good enough to formulate the idea of whether it would be a good idea to go into the Wild Card round of the playoffs with a kid that would have pitched at five different professional levels this season.
Kerkering went from low-A Clearwater to making his first appearance with high-A Jersey Shore on May 10. He debuted at Double-A Reading on July 6, then was surprised by his callup to Triple-A and made that first appearance for the IronPigs on Wednesday. And less than 48 hours later … here he was. How so?
“Just not caring,” Kerkering said. “I don’t really care about the stats. Talking to some guys through the year, their goals are too this, or too specific. If you’re just not caring about what can happen, just caring in the moment, then whatever happens, happens.”
Although he’s on the 40-man roster now (because Drew Ellis was DFA’d Friday and reliever Yunior Marte was demoted to Lehigh Valley), and had a chance to make his debut at the major league level Friday night, Kerkering said he’s still rolling with the flow.
“Just keep going in with open eyes,” he said, “and when your name is called, just go in there and have fun.”
Source: Berkshire mont