Trading for embattled outfielder Matt Kemp was the most ambitious move in a very ambitious offseason for the San Diego Padres. The former Dodger was coming off a strong 2014 bounce-back performance (.852 OPS, 25 HR, 89 RBI) after two injury-marred campaigns in which he missed a total of 145 games.
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Questions persisted about Kemp’s long-term health, however, and with him under contract through the 2019 season, the Padres were making a bold gamble that he would continue to stay on the field and put up All-Star numbers.
A few months into the season, the acquisition looked like an abject disappointment, representative of San Diego’s letdown year as a whole. Kemp was managing to avoid injury, but he was showing little of his usual authority at the plate. At the All-Star break, he was slashing .250/.291/.382 with eight home runs and 47 RBI.
The Padres’ fortunes haven’t changed much, as they currently sit nine games under .500 and 15 games behind in the National League West. But for Kemp, the second half has featured a major turnaround in his production. In the last 51 games he is slashing a far more impressive .304/.359/.562 along with 13 homers and 47 RBI.
Kemp’s post-ASG .921 OPS is among the highest in the NL, and his 94 RBI on the year are the tenth-most in baseball. Before running into the buzzsaw that is Madison Bumgarner last night, he was riding a 31-game on-base streak, the longest in franchise history since Adrian Gonzalez reached base safely in 30 consecutive games in 2006. Kemp hit .328 over that span with ten home runs and 35 RBI, making him one of the hottest hitters in the game of late.
That’s much more in line with what the Friars hoped for when they swung their deal for Kemp last December. His resurgent second half performance, especially in the last month, has helped boost his overall numbers on the season to very respectable levels.
A torrid second half is not exactly unprecedented for Kemp, though. Last year’s numbers were also significantly weighted toward the latter part of the season. In 2014 he posted a .760 OPS in the first half with eight homers and 35 RBI. He followed that up with a .971 OPS, 17 home runs and 54 RBI in the second half to complete his comeback effort.
When the Padres regroup this winter and look toward next year, they will view Kemp’s turnaround as a definite bright spot to an otherwise lackluster season. They may be even more happy about his number of appearances (he has played in 140 of 143 games so far) than they are about his recent work with the bat.
Padres bench coach Dave Roberts is confident that the 30-year-old Kemp will continue to stay on the field. “[His] body is great,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “He’s still in his prime as far as age. He works as hard as anybody and he sets a great tone like that.”
However, with four more years remaining on his big-money contract, San Diego will likely also hope that Kemp can demonstrate a bit more consistency in the future. Considering his extensive injury history, it would be far more concerning if he was fading down the stretch as opposed to heating up. But the Padres made a sizable financial commitment to Kemp, and even with the Dodgers picking up some of the tab, they will owe him $18 million per season from 2016-2019 to be the centerpiece of their lineup.
He is still just one piece of the puzzle, one component of an offseason overhaul that also brought in names like Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Craig Kimbrel, to varying degrees of success. But Kemp’s recent production would have been quite useful back in May when the team was floundering.
For his part, Kemp seems to understand what is working well for him right now: “I’m just seeing the ball better, man. That’s the key. There’s times when you just don’t feel good at the plate and you’re not getting the results that you want.”
The Padres will hope that comfort at the plate carries over into next year and translates into a much improved April for both their star outfielder and the team.