After launching his 37th home run of the season last night, Matt Kemp has made it clear that he’s a serious contender for the National League Triple Crown. With less than a week remaining, Kemp finds himself at or very near the top of every Triple Crown category.
Last night’s bomb moved Kemp into a tie for most home runs with Albert Pujols. Kemp tacked on another RBI to bring his NL-leading total to 119, six better than the next guy.
Meanwhile, the race for the National League batting champion has basically come down to three. Kemp (.326) is looking up at Ryan Braun and Jose Reyes, who each own an average of .329.
With the regular season coming to an end, Kemp hasn’t slowed up one bit. Don’t get me wrong, Kemp had been awesome all season long, but he’s just been getting silly of late.
Over the month of September, Kemp has hit at a clip of .368/.456/.658.
Don’t be impressed because your head might explode while reading the following statistics.
Over his last 7 games, Kemp has put up a line of .560/.593/1.200. That’s right, Kemp’s not only been getting on base nearly 60% of the time, but his slugging percentage is almost as high as the best OPS’s over that span.
Kemp has now homered in three straight games and four of his last five. He’s got six RBI’s in three games and eight in his last five. Thursday night, Kemp went four for five with all of his hits being of the extra base variety.
So, while Kemp has been unbelievable all season, he has been just unconscious of late. It’s going to be fun to see if this final stretch of torrid play can propel Kemp to a Triple Crown.
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