Phillies stars like Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos warmly welcome fringe players like Buddy Kennedy

Bryce Harper made sure he was the first person Cal Stevenson saw and spoke to when he entered the visitors’ clubhouse in Arizona on Aug. 10.

“Hey, man, you’ve been raking,” Harper said to Stevenson, a 28-year-old career minor-leaguer. “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

The next night, Stevenson got his first hit in his first start as a Phillie. On Tuesday, Stevenson roped a two-run, pinch double in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie in a 9-4 win over the visiting Rays, who are one of Stevenson’s five former organizations.

When the Phillies called up Stevenson — first in August, then again last week, as Austin Hays dealt with injury and illness — Stevenson, a waiver claim in May 2023, was having the finest of his six minor-league seasons. He has a .302 batting average and a .907 OPS, with eight home runs and 29 stolen bases in 101 games with triple-A Lehigh Valley. Harper knew it, and he made sure Stevenson knew he knew it.

“That’s why I sit right where I do,” Harper said Wednesday, pointing at his locker, next to the door of the clubhouse. “So when every guy walks in, I want to be able to say, ‘How you doing? Everything good? How’s your day going?’ “

This was not the culture of the Nationals, where Harper spent his first seven seasons.

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“A lot of that stuff wasn’t really part of the game when I came up,” Harper said.

Maybe not in D.C. However, Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who spent more than a decade as a coach for the Yankees, has seen this sort of leadership before.

”Derek Jeter,” Thomson said.

A major-league locker room can be a cold and fractious place, but Harper, in his 13th season overall and his sixth with the Phillies, goes out of his way to make the Phillies’ clubhouse warm and welcoming.

“I make it a point to say hello to everybody who walks through that door,” Harper said. “I want them to know they’re welcome here. No matter who you are, who you played for — it’s all erased. Work hard. Do your job. In the moments that we need them, we want them to know we have their back.”

Harper also stays connected to the minor-league teams, because you never know who might be helping you reach the playoffs or win postseason games. Last season it was double-A call-up Johan Rojas, who hit .302 and played Gold Glove-level center field for 2½ months, and reliever Orion Kerkering, who last season rocketed through all four levels of the minors before he landed with the Phillies in late September.

The Phillies might not have made the playoffs and reached the NLCS last season without that duo. They certainly wouldn’t hold the best record in baseball this year without Weston Wilson, Kody Clemens, Buddy Kennedy, and, of course, Stevenson — who, Harper knew, had as good a season in the minors as any of the extra men.

“It felt good, to see that he’d noticed that,” Stevenson said. “I came from two organizations that weren’t playing well, and they weren’t anything like this clubhouse. I never really felt welcomed. Bryce made me feel at ease. It let me just go out there and play. Because in the past, I haven’t had much success.”

Stevenson debuted in the majors in 2022 with Oakland and returned last year with the Giants and, in 29 games, was 10-for-69 with 25 strikeouts, one RBI, and a .448 OPS. After Tuesday, in 12 games with the Phillies he’s 4-for-14 with an .804 OPS.

The night before it was Kennedy and Clemens. To chants of “Bud-dy! Bud-dy!”, Kennedy drew a tie-game, two-out, full-count, pinch hit walk, which loaded the bases for Clemens, who singled in the walk-off winner. Tuesday, Kennedy — again, to chants of “Bud-dy! Bud-dy!” — coolly followed Clemens with a two-out single to give the Phillies a three-run lead.

Nick Castellanos understood Kennedy’s situation when Kennedy got called up Aug. 26 for two days when Wilson took paternity leave.

“Just keep it easy. You’re in the big leagues,” Castellanos said. “Number one: Enjoy it. Number two: Just be as ready as you can when called on. It’ll make your job a lot easier.”

Wilson, who turned 30 on Wednesday, has been making it look easy since August. As a 28-year-old rookie, he homered in his first big-league at-bat. He was sent back to triple A out of spring training, but when the Phillies released Whit Merrifield this July, they called up Wilson. He entered Wednesday hitting .308 with an .881 OPS. Those numbers got juiced Aug. 15, when Wilson became the first Phillies rookie to hit for the cycle.

You know who’s never hit for the cycle?

Bryce Harper.

“There’s no egos,” Wilson said.

That’s remarkable, because there’s plenty of accomplishment, and cash. Harper’s a two-time MVP who’s under contract for $330 million, leading an eye-popping payroll populated by Trea Turner ($300 million), J.T. Realmuto ($115.5 million), Castellanos ($100 million), and Kyle Schwarber ($79 million).

“Bryce and J.T. and Kyle and Trea — they’re all just massive names. So, you’re a little star-struck early,” said Clemens, even though his father, Roger, was as big a star as any of the current Phillies. “You come up playing MLB The Show, and you’re playing these dudes on the video game, to play with these studs — showing up to the clubhouse and playing with these superstars — was pretty cool to me.”

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Kerkering’s ascent last season didn’t threaten veterans like Jeff Hoffman or Matt Strahm, who immediately teased the kid like he’d been in the bullpen for a decade.

“We’d be playing basketball or something and they’d be like, ‘Are you serious with that shot?’ “ Kerkering said. “Right away, they started busting [on me].”

“Had to,” said Hoffman, who also pitched with the Rockies and Reds.

Were those clubhouses as welcoming as the Phillies’? He smiled:

“No comment.”

It’s not just words, either. The stars take the extra men to play golf. They invite them to dinners on the road.

“The camaraderie on this team is amazing,” said Clemens, who then gestured at Stevenson and Wilson. “That’s why guys like us can come in here and feel comfortable.

“And produce.”