(Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Phillies placed veteran Howie Kendrick on the disabled list on Friday, ahead of a weekend series on the road against the New York Mets. With a roster spot opened up, the Phillies promoted one of the organization’s top prospects, Nick Williams, to the big leagues.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, the move up to the Phillies from Triple-A may be a short-lived one, according to MLB.com reporter Todd Zolecki. Honestly, that is a shame, because the Phillies should be taking the rest of the season to find out as much as they possibly can about the future of the organization. Keeping Williams in the big leagues permanently would be a wise move, but it would also go against the franchise’s long-term approach to grooming prospects.

For the longest time, the Phillies have tried to be extremely careful about bringing up top prospects before they felt they were ready to make the jump. But sometimes, the team needs to take a leap of faith and begin seeing what these kids can do at the big league level, even if it means taking some lumps out of the gates.

The Phillies may have just taken two games on the road against the Seattle Mariners, but the team sits at the bottom of the major league standings with a record of 26-51. They are the only team heading into the weekend that is below 30 wins this season and they are 19 games out of first place in the NL East. This team is going nowhere and they have been an afterthought in Philadelphia since the season began. If nothing else, the fans sticking by the team deserve at least some reason to keep tuning in during the second half of the season. Bringing up top prospects may be the perfect solution.

The Phillies farm system is tearing things up while the major leaguers continue to flounder in historic ways, which says something for a team with more losses than any other major league franchise in the history of the game. The Phillies have promoted a few players already this season, but as the season drags on, more and more of the top prospects in the farm system should start seeing promotions on their own way up to the big league.

Williams was traded to the Phillies from the Texas Rangers in exchange for Cole Hamels in 2015. Jerad Eickoff, Jake Thompson, Jorge Alfaro, and Alec Asher were received by the Phillies in that trade and have already made appearances with the Phillies. Each player could play a role in the future of the team as they continue to improve and develop. It takes time for prospects to become the nucleus of a team’s clubhouse, but providing an opportunity to get that exposure now may be something that eases the pain for the baseball fans of Philadelphia.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.