Phillies Place Harper on the Injured List, Give Kemp a Shot

Phillies slugger Bryce Harper had just recovered from a bruised elblow and returned to the Phillies lineup.  But Friday night, he was out of the lineup once again with a sore wrist.  That sore wrist will mean that the Phillies are without Harper a little bit longer.

The Phillies announced that Harper was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 6.  In his place, the Phillies promoted third baseman Otto Kemp from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Kemp was playing very well at Triple-A and was deserving of a promotion even before this news.

Kemp is batting .313, with 14 home runs and 55 runs batted in.  He has 19 doubles and a triple, with an OPS of 1.010.   He has played third base, first base, left field, and second base for the IronPigs this season.

It's likely that Kemp will play either third base or first base for the Phillies.  But his outfield experience could come into play with Weston Wilson batting just .160 against left-handed pitching.

The Phillies had an open 40-man roster spot after Jose Ruiz was designated for assignment last week.

As for Harper, his wrist has been bothering him "for a while," as he said ahead of the series in Pittsburgh.   As Paul Casela noted on MLB.com, the Phillies were hoping to get ahead of this and not make it worse.  Shutting Harper down for 10 (or 9 now) days could allow that to heal.

Meanwhile, the Phillies swapped out pitcher Alan Rangel for Daniel Robert.  The move gives the Phillies an extra arm until Zack Wheeler returns from the Paternity List.

The Phillies struggled without Harper in the lineup against Milwaukee.  They will look to hold it together over the next nine days until Harper is eligible to return.  And meanwhile, Kemp can try to show the club that he deserves to stick around.