‘We got another Phillie in the family:’ Millville’s Buddy Kennedy embracing opportunity with hometown team

Buddy Kennedy was recalled by the Phillies on Monday. (Cheryl Pursell)

On Monday, the Phillies made a flurry of roster moves. One of those moves was recalling Buddy Kennedy from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies acquired Kennedy, a South Jersey native, in a trade with the Tigers in early June.

“It’s exciting,” Kennedy said of being recalled before Monday’s game against the Astros. “When I got acquired [by the Phillies], obviously I was super excited.” Kennedy tried not to think about the possibility of him playing for the big-league club. But his fiance, along with some of his buddies, mentioned it. He knew he had to keep working.

“There’s absolutely work that has to be done, Kennedy said. “Obviously, I wasn’t really doing my best when I was with Toledo and had to figure out some things mechanically offensively. And once I got over here, I just kind of hit a different page.”

Kennedy struggled with Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate, the Toledo Mud Hens. In 163 plate appearances with Toledo, he hit .234/.331/.383. He struck out in 23.9% of his plate appearances. But with Lehigh Valley, Kennedy performed much better. In 239 plate appearances for the IronPigs, he batted .313/.415/.543. The 25-year-old also cut down his strikeout rate by nearly 10 points to 14.2%. Kennedy credited the IronPigs coaching staff with helping him turn things around.

Kennedy isn’t the only person in his family to be a member of the Phillies organization. His grandfather, Don Money, played parts of six seasons in Philadelphia. Money, an infielder and four-time All-Star with the Brewers, appeared in 524 games with the Phillies from 1968 to 1972.

“They screamed,” Kennedy said of his family when he told them the news. He found out himself on Sunday when he was driving home from Lehigh Valley to West Berlin, NJ. It was IronPigs manager Anthony Contreras who told Kennedy he’d be in a Phillies uniform come Monday.

“My mom, I think, almost blew my ear out on the phone. Then I called grandpa and I was like, ‘Hey we got another Phillie tomorrow in the family.’ He was like, I can’t say the word, but he was like ‘No way!’ and my grandmother cried.”

Kennedy said he’d have around 20 personal family members in the stands on Monday, but that there’d be even more people who’d show up to see him wearing a Phillies uniform. He also said he got a lot of texts when it was announced he was recalled on Monday afternoon.

Kennedy has spent time in the majors before. A fifth-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks in 2017 out of Millville Senior High School, he appeared in 40 games for Arizona between 2022 and 2023. He attended a National League Championship Series game at Citizens Bank Park with his fiance last October. He even got an NL championship ring. He said he received the ring around the time he got traded to the Phillies.

This season, Kennedy appeared in six games for the Tigers, going 2-for-10 with a single and a home run.

“He’s had a really good year at Triple-A,” Rob Thomson said about Kennedy. With Weston Wilson being placed on the paternity list, the Phillies needed an extra infielder. “He can play anywhere on the infield,” Thomson said. “He can actually play a little bit of corner outfield and we’ll see how many days he’s going to be here. …I think it’s a great story, just like Tyler Phillips.”

After not appearing in Monday’s game, whether or not Kennedy gets to play over the next few days is yet to be seen. Wilson can spend up to three days on the paternity list, meaning he’d have to be activated by Thursday at the latest. The Phillies are scheduled to face back-to-back right-handed starters on Tuesday and Wednesday in Justin Verlander and Spencer Arrighetti. Maybe the opportunity doesn’t present itself. If it does, Kennedy will be ready.

“Be ready whenever called on, you know?” Kennedy said about how he’ll approach his time with the Phillies. “I put my head down and do my job to the best of my ability. I always have, through high school, obviously in my minor-league career and the best I can in my major-league career. Just gonna fight, be a tough out if I get in there and show them what I got.”

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Phillies Nation’s Destiny Lugardo contributed to this story.