As Otto Kemp rounded the bases after his first major league home run in Atlanta two weeks ago, his college coach’s phone was already buzzing. Justin James, watching the Phillies game from his living room, saw a text from a history professor at Point Loma Nazarene University: “Otto just hit his first home run.”
The message came from the small, Division II Christian liberal arts college where Kemp played before signing with the Phillies as an undrafted free agent. With an undergraduate enrollment of just over 3,000, the tight-knit San Diego campus has collectively celebrated Kemp’s journey as he carves out a utility role in the majors. Some professors stream Phillies games during class, and the community stayed tuned in for his first homer despite a two-hour rain delay.
“We just have a lot of pride in our school,” said James, PLNU’s coach. “So when someone does something exceptional like this, I feel it’s maybe a deeper celebration and pride. Everyone has been asking how Otto is doing every single day.”
That local support will be on full display this weekend as the Phillies face the Padres in San Diego, just 10 miles from the PLNU campus. Kemp estimates around 200 people from the university and his childhood home will be at Petco Park to watch him play. James and his family, who also attended Kemp’s MLB debut in Pittsburgh and his home debut in Philadelphia, will be there for all three games.
Kemp’s path to the majors has been defined by perseverance. A torn knee ligament during his senior year of high school limited him to just two Division II scholarship offers, including one from PLNU. “As long as he was staying healthy, he was pretty easy to identify as a guy who was going to be special,” James recalled.
But staying healthy proved to be a challenge. A blood clot cut his first year at PLNU to 13 games. The COVID-19 pandemic ended his sophomore season after 15 games and impacted the following year.
When he finally played a full season in 2022, Kemp reached base in all 61 games and led the PLNU Sea Lions to the Division II College World Series. But just before the tournament, he broke the hamate bone in his left hand while taking extra swings. Devastated but undeterred, he played through the injury. Barely able to close his glove, he made a leaping grab at third base to save a hit and went 4-for-4 with a home run in the national championship game.
“He played the whole entire World Series, every single inning,” James said. “We lost in the national championship game, and he was still playing defense at a high level… with a broken hand.”
Kemp is the third PLNU Sea Lion to reach the majors and the first position player, but he remains deeply connected to his roots. He keeps in close contact with James and the program and plans to train in San Diego during the offseason to serve as an ambassador for the school. His character was evident even in college, when he organized a fund to buy a customized glove for a groundskeeper who shagged balls for the team during his lunch breaks.
“It was never for him. He was always doing it for other people,” James said. “And I think that’s also why he’s gotten where he’s at.”
When he was called up to the majors a month ago, Kemp allowed himself to look at the schedule and dream about playing in Petco Park. “Once it happened, it was like, ‘All right, well, we’ll see if we make it to that point,’” Kemp said. “The closer we got, it was starting to become more of a reality.”
Now, the moment has arrived for the player who was unheralded out of high school and undrafted out of college to take the biggest baseball stage in San Diego.
“That full-circle moment of all that hard work and time he put in when no one was watching at Point Loma is now coming to fruition,” James said. “And now everyone can kind of see the fruits of that, on a major league baseball field, in the school’s home city.”
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