It’s hard to deny that Orion Kerkering has not performed the way that he or the Phillies want him to so far in 2025. The 24-year-old entered Wednesday sporting a 5.14 ERA across 16 appearances. Kerkering’s 1.64 WHIP ranks among the bottom of all qualified relievers and is coupled with a below average 20% strikeout rate.
His command hasn’t been there, his stuff has looked flat, and he’s allowed a lot of base hits. We’ve already done a deeper dive on Kerkering’s struggles here and touched on them here, but the bottom line is he hasn’t been good enough.