Max Kepler isn’t feeling the brotherly love he says he was promised.

The Phillies expected the outfielder to bring stability when they signed him to a one-year, $10 million deal this offseason. However, he has not delivered as anticipated, with a batting average of .209, an on-base percentage of .300, and a slugging percentage of .383 in 267 plate appearances. This underwhelming performance was evident after the Philadelphia team’s 2-1 loss in Houston on Thursday.

In a statement to The Athletic, Kepler expressed his biggest challenge as not playing regularly. Despite being told he would be the starting left fielder, the outfielder finds the lack of consistent playing time to be a major hurdle in his performance.

In the first 81 games of the season, Kepler started 60 times — and sparingly when it comes against lefties.

He has only started three times when a southpaw was on the mound, good for 10 hits over 49 plate appearances while striking out 10 times.

This distrust of Kepler’s abilities against left-handed pitching has made his season fragmented and inconsistent,

The Phillies, currently without injured slugger Bryce Harper, scored one run in the entire series against the Houston Astros

Within the Phillies roster, players like Alec Bohm, Nick Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto are also experiencing average seasons. However, none of them are facing as fierce competition for their positions as Kepler, with prospect Justin Crawford making significant strides to secure a spot in the team.

Crawford is lighting up Triple-A slashing .336/.413/.441.

“Oh yeah, absolutely,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the possibility of a calling up Crawford.