Since 2010, six players have been drafted into Major League Baseball out of Point Loma Nazarene University — Otto Kemp was not one of them.
After graduating from PLNU in 2022 with a degree in business administration and finance, Kemp remained undrafted by all 30 MLB teams. However, less than 24 hours after the 2022 draft was concluded, the Philadelphia Phillies came calling. After going undrafted, Kemp became a free agent and Philly signed the 23-year-old, handing him an opportunity to play professional baseball.
“Otto is one of those players that every coach envisions and wants on their team,” Justin James, Point Loma’s head coach, said in an article by Tim Heiduk. “His work ethic was the best I’ve been around. He always put the team before himself, all while putting the hours in behind the scenes.”
It was an uphill battle to get there. Due to a redshirt season in 2019 — where Kemp sat out of official competition to lengthen his athletic eligibility — and COVID-shortened seasons in 2020 and 2021, Kemp only played one full campaign, but he made every moment count.
Kemp posted the best numbers of his amateur career in that 2022 season. The corner infielder posted a .364/.492/.645, slash line with 17 home runs and 62 RBIs. He reached base in all 61 games that season, helping the team finish runner-up in the NCAA Division II World Series.
“He was the model for how we were supposed to work, especially for the new guys like me,” PLNU’s all-time leader in home runs and RBIs, Jake Entrekin, said in an article from Times of San Diego.
Currently, only two out of the seven PLNU players remain in professional baseball. Right-hander Ryan Garcia currently pitches for the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Double-A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds. The other is Kemp, who still resides with Philadelphia.
Kemp has been shuttled back-and-forth between Triple-A and the big-league club. His longest stretch came in 2025, when Kemp played in 62 games for the Phillies. In that time, he hit just below league-average (.245) while playing solid defense at the hot corner. All in all, Kemp slashed .234/.298/.411.
This incredible journey led him to become the first position player from PLNU to reach the major leagues. It was a phenomenal accomplishment for Kemp and for PLNU’s baseball program.
“I think it was foundational for my game,” said Kemp in that same Times of San Diego piece. “There are a lot of things that I learned there, and a lot of things that I went through that allowed me to be in this position today, stuff that I built upon.”
The path since has been a rollercoaster. After undergoing multiple surgeries heading into the 2026 season, Kemp faced setbacks during spring training. He was called up this season for a brief stint, but did not perform well. The infielder struggled immensely, hitting just .080 in 13 games with Philadelphia.
Those problems have continued in Triple-A. Through 94 games with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Kemp has hit .230/.343/.402. Leaving his overall line to be slightly below league average.
“It’s rare to get a guy [like Kemp] who’s just addicted to the grind,” Entrekin said to Times of San Diego. “He worked hard every day with a positive, humble spirit and always carried himself like a pro.”
On Sept. 1, MLB rosters expanded from 26 to 28 players. That gives teams opportunities to add one position player and one pitcher to the roster.
During the month of July, Kemp swung an especially hot bat. He reached base at a .416 clip (ranked fifth on the IronPigs) with a .959 OPS (fourth). It seemed likely that Philly might call Kemp up after that hot streak, though that call-up has yet to come.
Still, what Kemp has accomplished is impressive. Baseball-Reference, a website that compiles baseball statistics, reports that 23,411 players in history have made it to the highest level of MLB. Of those, two have come from PLNU. One was Otto Kemp. What an incredible feat. The only question now: where might he go from here?
Cade Michaelson