Orion Kerkering embodies the historic, chaotic Phillies
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Hallie Grossman, ESPN Staff Writer
ORION KERKERING CAST a furtive glance around the clubhouse. His teammates — this lot of Philadelphia Phillies who had been his teammates for a grand total of three weeks — were consumed with the work ahead of dispatching the Braves in Game 4 to clinch the National League Division Series, or just otherwise engaged in pregame rituals, and they paid him no mind. He tugged open the plastic bag and double-checked its contents. Satisfied, he squirreled it away in his locker for safekeeping. His time, and the time for the contents of that bag, was coming.
The fact that these teammates were his teammates was silly. That this locker was his locker, illogical. That the contents of that bag, which he had commissioned barely 12 hours ago, were his to commission at all, downright asinine. Six months ago, he took the mound in Low-A ball in Clearwater, Florida. Low-A! And here he was, suiting up in Philadelphia. In the majors. In October. (Philadelphia! The majors! October!)
So roughly four hours later — with the Atlanta Braves duly dispatched and the NLDS safely clinched — when he nudged his clubhouse neighbor and fellow bullpen mate, Jeff Hoffman, smiled with an air of mischief and told him, “Hey, man, look at this,” well, it made as much sense as anything else in this nonsensical year.
The way Hoffman tells it, Kerkering giggled almost like a grade-schooler at what he had done. Fittingly, perhaps, since he’s only 22 and not that far removed from grade school. (He was in grade school, in fact — just 9 years old — when his now-teammate and Phillies closer, Craig Kimbrel, made his major league debut in 2010.)
Hoffman smiled back at Kerkering. “Wow,” he told him. Atta boy, he almost said, which is also fitting. Because Orion Kerkering, a Phillie for 20 days, had made a T-shirt commemorating that sentiment exactly.
In maroon, against a powder blue backdrop on the front: “ATTA BOY HARPER”
On the back: “HE WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HEAR IT”
With help from a college friend and Philadelphia local who made the shirt on about a half day’s notice, Kerkering had memorialized Orlando Arcia, the Brave who launched a thousand Bryce Harper stare-downs. Specifically, the Atlanta shortstop’s dig and subsequent about-face at Harper’s Game 2-ending baserunning blunder. And Hoffman loved it.
“When you win, you can do whatever you want,” Hoffman says. “At least that’s how we look at it here.”
And the Phillies did win, with a hint of bedlam and utter lack of orthodoxy, as is their wont. So with the clubhouse draped in celebratory plastic and geysers of celebratory Budweiser arcing through the air, Kerkering finally put on his shirt. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm double-fisted a pair of beer bottles and poured them all over it. Kerkering paid it forward, dousing Kyle Schwarber with the beer he’s barely old enough to drink legally.
His path to this beer bath was a little frenzied and more than a little unexpected — which on this particular team, with this particular group of players, somehow feels just right.
The Phillies simply do not do normal. They send the unlikeliest leadoff hitter in baseball to the plate; Schwarber is shaped like a fire hydrant and on many nights, either fires moon shots into the Philadelphia evening or whiffs entirely. Their lineup can boggle the mind; Nick Castellanos, their $100 million slugger, has mostly taken up residence in the 7-hole for over a month now. They can launch (and launch and launch) home runs all the way to the Delaware River, but can forget, for seeming eternities, how to make bat meet ball with runners in scoring position. And they can look like a very good team for 162 games, only to hulk out when the calendar flips to October and there’s a nip in the air.
They are perfectly imperfect. A chaotic mess. A beautiful symphony.
Orion Kerkering — and his chaotic, symphonic climb to the highest level of baseball — fits right in.
PERHAPS IT SHOULD be no surprise, then, that by the seventh inning of Game 1 in the National League Championship Series, a healthy number of Phillies fans and armchair Toppers the Philadelphia region wide were agitating to replace their ace with a pitcher they hadn’t heard of three weeks before.
Starter Zack Wheeler had, by and large, breezed through six innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, helped steward a 5-2 Phillies lead, then handed the ball to the bullpen. And though Kerkering did not get the nod that night, the clamor was still a dizzying turn of events for a man who currently calls a hotel in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard home.
He’s living out of a suitcase he packed last month, with enough clothes — some shirts, some pants; “I’m not a big stylish guy,” he says — for the final week of the Reading Fightin Phils‘ season, plus a sightseeing trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with his girlfriend. They pushed back their plans when he got the call to head to Triple-A — then that pushback got pushed back when, four nights and one game into his stint with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, he got summoned to Philadelphia on a late-September Friday around noon. He had planned to get a haircut that afternoon; instead, he battled midday traffic from Allentown to Philadelphia, dropped his belongings at the hotel, then hightailed it to Citizens Bank Park in case he needed to pitch that night. (He didn’t, but would two days later.)
Since that Friday when his fall turned topsy-turvy, Kerkering has made:
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His major league debut, on Sept. 24, a 1-2-3 eighth inning against the Mets.
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His postseason debut 10 days later, a 1-2-3 eighth inning against the Marlins.
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His NLDS debut three days after that, a 1-2-3 seventh inning against the Braves’ historically potent offense.
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His NLCS debut a week after that. He allowed one hit, served three strikeouts and looked generally filthy in the ninth inning to close out Arizona in a 10-0 laugher.
Kerkering’s swift ascension to these playoffs makes a meteor’s pace seem glacial. To wit: Since 1992, according to Stats Perform, he’s just the second player to pitch in Low-A, High-A, Double-A, Triple-A and the major league postseason.
And though he finally looked the part of a rookie by the heart of the NLCS — he gave up three straight hits and the game-tying run in the Phillies’ Game 3 loss; he delivered a bases-loaded walk before closing out the seventh inning in Game 4 — Kerkering swears he has never been cowed by the moment or the enormity of what he has done since late September. Instead, shell shock took hold when he passed a Bryce Harper or a Kyle Schwarber or a Trea Turner. Or a Nick Castellanos or Aaron Nola or Zack Wheeler. He rattles off what feels like half the roster, recounting how he’d see them in the clubhouse, realize they were his teammates, then laugh to himself about it all. “A little-kid kind of moment,” he says, a bit sheepishly, now that the bewilderment has faded and he’s a seasoned veteran of 20-plus days.
Which is pretty much what his teammates make him out to be, on the mound at least — a seasoned veteran — a distinction they also say he comes by honestly.
“If I had his stuff, I’d be pretty mellow too,” says pitcher Michael Lorenzen. “I’m telling you. It’s that good.”
A popular refrain, by all counts. J.T. Realmuto, Philadelphia’s longtime catcher, heard it early this year, and often.
“To be honest, I’ve been hearing about him and his stuff since May,” he says. “Every time I asked any minor league coach, ‘Hey, what do we have coming?’ He was the first one they always mentioned.”
So is it enough, his devastating slider and the aura of inevitability that trails in that slider’s wake? Can Kerkering be a secret weapon and a fittingly unorthodox puzzle piece for this unorthodox team in the throes of another October run?
“100%,” Lorenzen says. “100%. He’s going to throw a lot of important innings. Everyone’s going to know who he is at the end of this. Everyone will.”
IF EVERYONE DOES know who Kerkering is at the end of this, it’s a tale that’s especially apropos told here. Philadelphia falls hard for chaos to call its own.
One day before he turned Arcia’s words into a fashion statement, he strode into Citizens Bank Park for Game 3 against the Braves wearing someone else’s eloquence.
“If you don’t get it, then get the f— out of Philly,” said Phillies backup catcher Garrett Stubbs, by way of postseason hype video. Stubbs’ exuberance wound up printed on T-shirts. The T-shirts wound up on a table in the clubhouse, up for grabs for interested parties. Kerkering saw them, snagged one for himself — if nothing else, he was still getting by on his two weeks’ worth of clothes, and an extra tee could prove handy. Then, caught up in the team’s emotional roller coaster of a start to the series against the Braves, he figured the Phillies’ first NLDS game at home was a fine time to showcase it.
So what don’t people get, exactly, about Philly? These people who need to get the f— out?
“Just how passionate we are,” Kerkering estimates. We, he says, this Venice, Florida-raised Phillie who has called Philadelphia (or at least a hotel room in Philadelphia) home for a month.
Philadelphia has fallen hard for Kerkering because of his wardrobe choices, his ridiculous slider and his rapid-fire rise to the top of the baseball food chain. And because of his father, Todd, who stumbled into his own bit of viral fame after he was caught on the TV broadcast overcome with emotion during Orion’s regular-season debut.
When the cameras caught Todd choking up, he wasn’t just watching his son take the mound in Philadelphia. He was watching him take the mound when he was 6, and 10, and 14. He was watching him at 7, getting ready for fall ball. Orion’s coach at the time assembled his team and asked the players: “Who can play what position?” Orion’s response was immediate and resolute: “I can play them all.”
Todd is a former Marine and has long tried to pass down the lessons he learned from his service to his son. “Be the silent professional,” he starts. “Be patient. Slow is fast.”
They’re lessons that Orion has not heeded, at least not in his baseball career. But the Marines also taught Todd to maintain a sense of humor, lightheartedness and joy. So he smiled, too, at his son’s willingness to play to the Philly masses with his pointed fashion choices.
Among those Philly masses are a couple of his old Marine Corps friends. They texted him in recent days: “Everyone loves your kid.”
“For right now,” Todd wrote back.
Both Kerkerings, it seems, are quick studies in the art of playing in Philadelphia, and for these Phillies. And all their attendant chaos.
Week 4 is here as we dive into another weekend of college football madness.
The biggest story going into Saturday’s slate of games is if Arch Manning will get his first college start. After capturing the attention of fans, he’ll have a lot to live up to in the spotlight as Texas faces UL Monroe.
USC will be making an appearance at the Big House for the first time in over 60 years as its visit will kick off conference play for the Trojans. Elsewhere in the Big Ten, No. 24 Illinois visits No. 22 Nebraska where one Illinois receiver lives out a different version of a dream he once had.
Before all of this plays out, Appalachian State gets things started as it hosts South Alabama on Thursday.
Our college football experts give insight on players, sound and storylines going into Week 4.
Jump to a section:
Texas QB depth | Illinois’ Pat Bryant | Must needs to win
New conference enemy | Quotes of the week
Stacked QB rooms are nothing new at Texas
Todd Dodge has a unique vantage point to the hysteria around Arch Manning, who made a national splash in his first extensive playing time at Texas after starter and Heisman Trophy candidate Quinn Ewers sustained an oblique injury.
Dodge, a quarterback guru and legendary Texas high school coach with seven state championships — including three-peats at two different schools — lived in the burnt orange spotlight himself. As the first Texas high school quarterback to throw for more than 3,000 yards in a season in 1980, he was a star recruit for the Longhorns who started as a celebrity backup himself.
“The most popular guy in any college town is the No. 2 quarterback,” said Dodge, now the coach at Lovejoy High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “I’ve been the No. 2 where I couldn’t buy my own dinner and everybody wanted to let me know how much they thought I ought to be playing. And I’ve been the No. 1 who’s played well, who was probably over-fawned-over and then I’ve been the No. 1 when the team lost and I didn’t play well and I’m the biggest bum in three counties.”
He said fans often assume a quarterback room is filled with jealousy or back-biting, but in his career, he has found it to be the opposite, which Steve Sarkisian reiterated Monday when he said nothing changes if Manning starts. The bond between Ewers and his backup is evident, Dodge said. And he is familiar with both players and their families, namely Ewers, because his son Riley, was Ewers’ head coach at Southlake Carroll.
“They’re very, very talented young men that both could be playing almost anywhere in the country, but the No. 2’s family [the Mannings] put tremendous value in development and patience,” he said. “To me, that takes a little bit of the angst off of me as the starter knowing that I don’t have a backup who’s out there just every waning minute trying to convince people that he ought to be the guy.”
Greg Davis, too, experienced the attention in his time in Austin. In 1998, Major Applewhite went 8-2 as the starter, was selected Big 12 Freshman of the Year, then Texas landed the No. 1 prospect in the country, Chris Simms, the well-pedigreed son of New York Giants legend Phil Simms. For the next three years, Simms and Applewhite both had their high points, and both served as co-starters. How do you manage that situation?
“Obviously you don’t live in a vacuum,” according to Davis, offensive coordinator under Mack Brown. “You’re aware of what they say in the grocery store.” Davis has ties to the Mannings himself. He recruited Eli alongside Simms, recruited Peyton at Arkansas and offered Arch’s dad, Cooper, when he was coaching at Tulane.
Davis said the pressure inside the building doesn’t come from attention or fans in the grocery store. It comes from picking the player who had the best chance to win. For Dodge, there’s no question, especially after seeing Ewers beat Oklahoma, then Alabama and Michigan in huge road victories.
“Gosh, all of us Texas fans are fired up about what Arch did the other day,” Dodge said. “But in the big picture, there’s a reason why Quinn Ewers is the starter. When you start having to face Georgia and people like that, well, it doesn’t mean that Arch Manning can’t have a bang-up game against a Georgia or an Alabama. It’s just that Quinn Ewers has already done it.” — Dave Wilson
Illinois’ Bryant dreams big after being molded through tragedy
Tattoos are filling up Pat Bryant’s body, memorializing those whose lives once ran parallel to his but diverged and ended far too soon.
Bryant, the star senior wide receiver for No. 24 Illinois, now has four tattoos honoring his friends from Jacksonville, Florida, who have died in recent years. One of the most painful came only two days after Bryant and the Illini played in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, when Bryant’s best friend, Alim Denson, nicknamed “Twin,” died while in prison.
“A lot of those guys, I grew up playing sports with, we all had the same dream,” Bryant said. “Being able to reach my dream, knowing they’re looking down on me, they’re very, very proud. Also, for the kids of the community, I want to show them that there’s more to life than gun violence, drugs. I just want to be a great role model for my community.”
Bryant, who leads Illinois with 235 receiving yards and four touchdowns this season, has contributed to a new community, far from home. He was named a team captain last month, as he prepared for his third season as a starter.
The 6-foot-3 Bryant received 33 scholarship offers in high school, including all the in-state schools, except the one he truly wanted, Florida, where both of his parents attended. Bryant committed to Illinois in June 2020, essentially sight unseen, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But in mid-December, just before the end of a delayed and shortened season, Illinois fired coach Lovie Smith. The first high school signing day was just three days away. Wide receivers coach Andrew Hayes-Stoker called Bryant and encouraged him to sign anyway, which he did. Three days later, Illinois hired Bret Bielema to replace Smith.
When Bryant finally visited Champaign, there was some confusion.
“I flew in, thinking the University of Illinois was in Chicago,” Bryant said. “I get off the plane, we get in an Uber, they’re taking us to the dorm, and I’m just waiting to see the big skyline. And I see corn field after corn field. I was like, ‘There’s no way,’ but I adapted to where I was. Great college town.”
Bryant has built a strong connection to Champaign. Earlier this month, he and two teammates pooled their NIL earnings to donate backpacks and school supplies to local children. Bryant’s desire to give back stems in part from his father, Patrick, the athletic director of the Police Athletic League of Jacksonville, which places officers to help with youth sports programs around the city. Pat Jr. played basketball and flag football in the league.
“He’s been nothing but a class example of everything we believe in here,” Bielema said.
After seven touchdown catches in 2023, Bryant is on pace for a breakout season, which continues Friday night at No. 22 Nebraska. Bielema has received good reviews from NFL scouts on Bryant, who also excels with run blocking. Bryant’s path reminds Bielema of the Atlanta Falcons’ Casey Washington.
At a morning meeting after Illinois’ second win, Bielema recognized Bryant as the team’s top overall performer.
“He lives a routine every day that gives him an advantage,” Bielema said. “We talked about how he’s in the building by 5:15 a.m., he doesn’t have to be checked in by 6:30. It’s just an awesome thing to witness. He knows where he’s at, he knows how to take care of himself. Unfortunately, he’s had some tragedy in his life and it helps motivate him for the future.”
Bryant plays for Denson and the other friends he has lost, but he’s also focused on his current teammates.
“I feel like I have a powerful voice, I can relate to everyone on the team,” he said. “I feel people respect me, not only because of my game but because of the kind of person I am.” — Adam Rittenberg
What teams need to capitalize on to win
Utah: Any sort of analysis about this game for the Utes has to begin with the status of quarterback Cam Rising. There hasn’t been an official update about whether he will play, but it’s hard not to interpret the fact that he spoke to reporters this week about the game as an indicator he will be available — unless it’s an elaborate form of gamesmanship, which cannot be ruled out. After falling behind 14-3 to Utah State last week, the Utes were able to come back and win comfortably, but it’s important the Utes don’t follow that script again. Independent of whether Rising plays, the Utes are at their best when the running game does the heavy lifting, and it does not suit their strengths to go into catch-up mode. This is especially true against an explosive offense like Oklahoma State. The best-case scenario here for the Utes is if Rising plays, they establish Micah Bernard early and neutralize Ollie Gordon II to a reasonable degree. — Kyle Bonagura
Oklahoma State: With back-to-back games against Utah and Kansas State to begin the 2024 Big 12 slate, Oklahoma State is about to enter a season-defining stretch. What better way for the Cowboys to make a statement in the Big 12 title hunt than by figuring out the running game and unleashing reigning Doak Walker Award winner Gordon in Week 4?
Coach Mike Gundy says he’s “not concerned” about Oklahoma State’s start on the ground this seasos. But through Week 3, the Cowboys rank 105th in rushing among FBS offenses and Gordon is averaging 3.5 yards per carry, down from 6.1 in 2023 when Gordon finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting. Oklahoma State leaned on its passing game to storm past Tulsa last Saturday when Gordon carried 17 times for just 41 yards. Relying so heavily on quarterback Alan Bowman won’t be as easy this weekend against Utah’s 26th-ranked pass defense. The Cowboys’ broader College Football Playoff aspirations probably hinge on finding a way to get Gordon and the run game going. Saturday against Utah is a good place for them to start. — Eli Lederman
Get to know your new conference enemy
With so much anticipation heading into this season about the new West Coast additions of the Big Ten playing matchups like this one, it’s hard to believe how much USC and Michigan have already switched roles.
The defending national champion has not looked the part after losing its head coach in Jim Harbaugh, but also plenty of talent on the field such as quarterback J.J. McCarthy and running back Blake Corum, among several others. After losing 31-12 to Texas at home and struggling on offense last week against Arkansas State, this isn’t exactly looking like the encore Wolverines fans envisioned.
Now, USC comes to town for its first marquee Big Ten game, looking far removed from the bitter end it had to the Caleb Williams era last year. After firing defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, Lincoln Riley revamped the defensive staff with former UCLA coordinator D’Anton Lynn, and after a statement win over LSU in the opener and a shutout of Utah State at home, the Trojans are coming off a bye week and look to be on the way up.
Despite any momentum USC might have, the concept of playing — and winning — a road game in the Big House looms large on any opponent, especially one that hasn’t been there since 1958. Though USC players keep harping on their improved physicality in the trenches being the deciding factor in this game, Riley has remained adamant over the past week that despite its struggles, Michigan is a really good team with NFL-caliber players. You can see how much he is trying to will his team to not view itself as the favorites, even if the odds say so.
“Everybody wants to write the story after a couple of games in the season for everyone,” Riley said this week. “And it’s a long season, man. That’s a good football team that we have a lot of respect for. To have anything less would be a mistake on our part.” — Paolo Uggetti
Quotes of the week
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“Yeah, there’s an old quarterback from Muleshoe, Texas that’s going to come out of retirement, can see if his legs still got it,” Lincoln Riley, smiling, when asked if USC has someone on the scout team that can replicate what Michigan QB Alex Orji does on the ground. “No, we got a couple of guys that we’re trying to use a little bit. But he’s a really good athlete. I told people last night I was familiar with him. We recruited him a little bit coming out of high school, remember, I have a lot of respect for him as a player and an athlete.”
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“I thought that they were trying to make it hard on us, to be honest with you,” Mike Gundy said Monday with Oklahoma State staring down back-to-back meetings against conference favorites Utah and Kansas State to open Big 12 play. “Commissioner [Brett Yormark] is my buddy, but he doesn’t do the scheduling. So, I’ve sent the wrong guy pecans for Christmas. I should’ve sent the scheduling guy pecans for Christmas.”
NEW YORK — Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their third consecutive playoff appearance Friday night with a 12-2 victory over the New York Mets.
Assured at least a National League wild card, the Phillies can secure their first NL East title since 2011 with one more win this weekend against the second-place Mets at Citi Field.
With the division crown so close, Philadelphia planned a mellow celebration following Friday night’s game — hoping to let loose soon with a boozy clubhouse bash after locking up first place.
Seeking their third World Series championship, the Phillies overtook Atlanta for the division lead on May 3 and haven’t trailed since. Their victory coupled with the Braves’ 4-3 loss in Miami eliminated Atlanta from contention for the NL East crown — ending its six-year reign atop the division.
Alec Bohm had four hits and four RBIs, including a three-run homer, in Friday night’s blowout. Nick Castellanos had three hits and two RBIs, J.T. Realmuto added a two-run homer and the Phillies extended their NL East lead to seven games over the second-place Mets (85-69) with eight to play.
Philadelphia stole five bases — four in a six-run fourth inning capped by Bohm’s homer off reliever Adam Ottavino. Johan Rojas had a two-run double off starter David Peterson (9-3), who was pulled after just 64 pitches and 3 2/3 innings — his shortest start of the season.
Cristopher Sanchez (11-9) overcame a shaky start and five walks in five innings for the win. Philadelphia outhit the Mets 17-4.
Philadelphia (92-62) has the best record in the major leagues and is on track for a first-round bye in the playoffs. It’s the third time the Phillies have reached the postseason three years in a row (1976-78 and 2007-11).
Philadelphia won five straight NL East titles from 2007-11, then went 10 years without making the playoffs. A wild-card entry each of the past two postseasons, the Phillies put together consecutive October runs that ended in heartbreak.
They reached the 2022 World Series, losing to Houston in six games, and dropped a seven-game NL Championship Series to Arizona last year after leading the underdog Diamondbacks 2-0 and 3-2.
So this time, the Phillies are looking to go all the way and finally finish the job.
Philadelphia’s only World Series championships came in 1980 and 2008.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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