PHILADELPHIA -- Felix Reyes emphatically clapped his hands as he rounded first base in the second inning on Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park.
He had just hit a home run to right field against Braves left-hander Chris Sale to fulfill a lifelong dream in the first at-bat of his MLB career. The Phillies called Reyes late Friday night to tell him he had been promoted to the big leagues. He got to the Minneapolis airport before 8 a.m. CT. He landed in Philly around 1:30 p.m. ET.
A little more than six hours later, he stepped into the batter’s box.
“I wasn’t amazed by it,” Reyes said via the team’s interpreter, following Philadelphia’s 3-1 loss. “It felt like I had been there before.”
Reyes hit a 2-0 fastball for a home run. He ran hard to first base, perhaps because he wasn’t sure if the ball would clear the fence. He lost his helmet midway between first and second. As he touched second, he waved to the relievers in the Phillies’ bullpen.
“It just felt like I was dreaming,” Reyes said. “It still feels like I’m sleeping.”
Reyes became the seventh player in Phillies franchise history to go yard in his first career at-bat, joining Wes Wilson (2023), Marlon Anderson (1998), Ricky Jordan (1988), Ed Sanicki (1949), Heinie Mueller (1938) and Bill Duggleby (1898).
It was a fun moment for the Phillies, but it didn’t last. Nobody else on offense did anything on Saturday, while the defense cost Cristopher Sánchez three runs in the third inning.
The Phillies fell to 8-12. They are four games under .500 for the first time since June 5, 2023 (28-32). They have lost four or their first five home series this season. They lost three home series all last year. It’s the first time they’ve won only one of their first five home series since 2013.
“We’ve got to keep fighting,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Before the game, Thomson said he hoped Reyes might provide a “a little bit of a shot of energy” to a struggling offense. Reyes had replaced Otto Kemp, whom the Phils spent the entire offseason touting as their right-handed bat in a left-field platoon with Brandon Marsh.
But Kemp didn’t last a month on the job, going 2-for-20 with one walk and nine strikeouts in 10 games before being optioned. He struggled in left field, a position he was learning on the fly.
In another year, perhaps the Phillies would exercise patience. But the Phillies are struggling, and their paltry numbers against left-handed pitching (.179 batting average, .549 OPS entering the day) are alarming.
So, Kemp took the fall.
“Well, it’s not his fault that we didn’t hit,” Thomson said. “It’s tough for him. I’ve said it many times, [it’s difficult] for a guy that doesn’t get consistent at-bats. He’s a young guy and he’s used to playing every day and now you’re playing sparingly. It’s tough.”
Reyes will be in the same position as Kemp, playing sparingly in left field with Marsh taking down most of the at-bats there. But Reyes was hitting the ball well in Triple-A, so the Phillies figured they would give him a chance.
Reyes slashed .333/.345/.654 with eight doubles, six home runs, 15 RBIs and a .999 OPS in 18 games with the IronPigs. He batted .303 (10-for-33) with three home runs in Spring Training. He won the 2025 Eastern League MVP Award, batting .335 with 34 doubles, four triples, 15 homers, 65 RBIs and a .937 OPS for Double-A Reading.
But Reyes is a late bloomer and a free swinger without a true position, so he never appeared on any prospects lists.
“Not surprised at all by it,” Reyes said. “It’s just a list. It’s just a list of names that you can see. When you read that list and you check it, it doesn’t tell you who the players are, who we are as a person or as a player. It doesn’t tell you the full story. So I just see it as another list.”
Reyes struck out 17 times and walked twice this year with the IronPigs. His chase rate (51.9 percent) in Triple-A is almost four points higher than Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has the highest chase rate (48 percent) in MLB. But Reyes took the first two pitches from Sale for balls, when Sale threw an elevated fastball over the heart of the plate.
"I'm going to be on ESPN all day tomorrow,” Sale said. “But, I mean, you're talking about going opposite field. I don't know how hard the pitch was, but he got the barrel to it. That's impressive, especially in your first at-bat in the big leagues."
Reyes got an ovation as he returned to the Phillies’ dugout. Fans cheered him as he ran to left field in the third.
“I’ve never felt something quite like this before,” he said. “It’s a dream come true. You know, back when I was a kid, I dreamt of a night like this.”