This South Jersey Grad Played for the Phillies but Now He’s Joining a New MLB Team

For Phillies Baseball fans from South Jersey, every high school baseball player's dream is to play Major League Baseball in a Philadelphia uniform.

That dream scenario was closer to home for Millville High School Graduate Buddy Kennedy. His grandfather, Don Money, played five seasons in a Phillies uniform (1968-1972) as part of a 16-year MLB Career.

Kennedy was selected in the 5th Round of the 2017 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. After seven years with the DBacks organization, he landed with the Detroit Tigers organization in 2024 before the Philadelphia Phillies purchased his contract from the Tigers Minor Leaguen Triple-A team.

The South Jersey High School Graduate only appeared in 12 games with the Phillies over 13 months. He played most of his time with the organization with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. In his 61 games played, he had 40 RBI and a .388 On-Base Percentage at Triple-A this year.

Now Buddy Kennedy Is Getting a Fresh Start with a New Organization

When Bryce Harper returned from the Injured List on June 30th, to make room on the roster for the Phillies' superstar hitter, the organization designated Buddy Kennedy "for assignment".

In Baseball, when a player is DFA'ed, that guy has the option to either return to the team's Triple-A team and stay a member of the organization, or they can choose to become a Free Agent so they can sign with another team.

Kennedy chose to leave the Phillies' organization rather than return to playing at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He may have seen the "writing on the wall" when the Phillies picked Weston Wilson (another Right-Handed Hitter who can play multiple positions) for the Opening Day Roster in March and how much playing time Otto Kemp was getting since coming up to the Major Leagues.

The Millville High School Graduate has landed with a team that is lacking depth at the positions that Buddy Kennedy plays: The Toronto Blue Jays are two games up on the New York Yankees in the American League East, but they lack depth at the middle infield positions.

Two other South Jersey High School graduates play for the Blue Jays' organization:

*Davis Schneider is a graduate from Eastern Regional (Voorhees) and has played in 32 games for the Blue Jays this year. He was drafted by Toronto in the 28th Round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

*Joey Loperfido is a graduate of Haddonfield Memorial High School and has played in 47 games over the last two season for the Blue Jays. He was originally selected by the Houston Astros in the 7th round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

Maybe Kennedy this season will play for the Blue Jays and be on the roster at the same time with Schneider and Loperfido. Here are some more South Jersey High School Graduates who have played games in Major League Baseball: