MLB: Nightengale column
Leaner Kemp back home in L.A.
PHOENIX – It’s the same team he grew up with, raising him since he was a teenager from Oklahoma, but it feels so different now.
Most of the names and faces have changed. The old coaching staff and front office are gone. Only three of his former teammates are still around.
It has been 40 months since the Los Angeles Dodgers abandoned Matt Kemp, trading him to the San Diego Padres before he wound up in Atlanta.
Now, at the crossroads of his career, Kemp and the Dodgers are reunited in baseball’s most improbable reunion, their own version of Roseanne.
Matt Kemp, meet the Dodgers, who have done nothing but win since your departure.
Dodgers, meet Kemp, who lost about 50 pounds since you last saw him.
“It’s crazy,” Kemp says, “the way everything happened.”
Kemp, returning to Los Angeles in a December trade fueled solely by economics, wasn’t supposed to be around long enough to even put on the Dodgers uniform. He was shopped all winter with no takers. He was even instructed to stay away from their FanFest.
Kemp not only made the Dodgers’ opening-day roster but is their starting left fielder, a useful right-handed power bat, particularly in the absence of third baseman Justin Turner.
“When I got traded the first time, I can’t say I wasn’t hurt,” Kemp tells USA TODAY. “I was so disappointed. I never wanted to leave. I thought I’d be around here forever.
“But once I was gone, I always wanted to come home. I just never thought I’d be back.”
This isn’t the same Kemp who left the Dodgers in December 2014, a two-time All-Star and 30-homer/30-steal man, finishing second in the 2011 National League MVP balloting after hitting 39 homers with 126 RBI and stealing 40 bases.
Then again, neither are the Dodgers. Gone are the Dodgers days of bankruptcy and underachievement, a mosh pit of dysfunctionality.
Today, the Dodgers are again an iconic franchise, winning five consecutive division titles, the defending National League champions, and a powerhouse built on homegrown talent and harmonious personalities.
It’s not the same Dodgers team he left, and neither is Kemp.
He no longer has the same boisterous clubhouse voice. The swag is there, but restrained. The Hollywood lifestyle, the days of dating the likes of Rihanna, no longer is his scene.
“Hey, I’m 33 years old,” Kemp says, “I don’t need to be going out, dawg. Unless it’s someone’s birthday, or going out to dinner, that’s about it. There ain’t going to be no going out ’til 2 in the morning. When the game is over, I’m back in my room, going to sleep.”
Yes, and without that late-night deep-dish pizza, a dozen wings and some of those cheesy breadsticks.
The last time Kemp was seen in public, he was pushing about 275 pounds, looking more like a middle-aged outfielder playing in an old-timers game than the svelte outfielder who graced the outfield at Dodger Stadium, winning two Gold Gloves and stealing 40 bases.
He went home to Prosper, Texas, looked in the mirror, and knew it was time to get himself right. He started training with former All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter, one of his best friends, who lives just 11⁄ miles away. He radical
2 ly changed his diet. Sugars and bread were out. Protein and vegetables were in.
“Man, I just ate right and stayed focused,” Kemp says. “It was all about consistency. Everything in moderation. It was just a thing where my hamstring started acting up, and I got to a place where I didn’t want to be. Things happen. Being a baseball player, you have these long games, and when the games are over at night, what does everybody do after work when you get home, you want to eat. You know how it is, man. We’re all human.
“You don’t want to eat too much junk food, and that’s what I was doing. I just cleaned up the things that we love to eat and I couldn’t. You live and learn.”
By the time Kemp reported to Dodger Stadium for informal workouts in January, he barely looked like the same guy. He dropped 45 to 50 pounds (“I don’t tell anybody the exact weight I lost”), now weighing about the same as he did when he left the Dodgers at 225 pounds on his
6-3 frame.
“I was surprised to see what kind of shape he was in,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says, “because I just had the visual last year of him in Atlanta. So when I saw him show up the first day in spring training, I was overwhelmed and very excited.”
No one imagined that Kemp would even be around long enough to set foot in the Dodgers camp.
They made the five-player trade with the Braves simply to rearrange their payroll to get under the $197 million luxury tax at the end of this season. They acquired Kemp with the Braves taking on Adrian Gonzalez, Brandon McCarthy, Scott Kazmir and Charlie Culberson. The Dodgers never wanted Kemp, who has $43 million remaining in his deal, but had to take him to make the trade economically balanced.
When the Dodgers had their FanFest in January, they even told Kemp to stay home, to avoid any awkwardness or embarrassment of having Kemp answer questions about an upcoming season that he might not be part of by the start of camp.
“We were just trying to treat him with as much respect as we could,” Dodgers President Andrew Friedman said. “We were very honest with him from the moment we made the trade. We told him we just didn’t know how things would work out.”
Says Kemp: “I was so excited when (agent Larry Reynolds) told me I was being traded to L.A., but then after I talked to Andrew, it was like, ‘Whoa!’ They told me flat-out that they didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Kemp showed up to camp and was immediately challenged by the front office and coaching staff. If he wanted to stick around, he had to work on his defense, which was rated third worst among all outfielders last year, according to FanGraphs. He spent morning after morning working with outfield coach George Lombard, knowing he wasn’t going to have a spot on the team simply because of his contract.
“That was something we made clear to him was our expectations,” Roberts said, “and to his credit, he did all of the extra work almost every single day.”
Kemp, who discovered that he was still beloved by the fan base, went out and hit .263 with five home runs this spring and a .561 slugging percentage. Even if Turner didn’t break his wrist March 20 when hit by a pitch, Kemp played himself onto the Dodgers’ opening-day roster.
“It was so emotional on opening day, and when they called my name during introductions, it really hit me,” Kemp said. “To tell you the truth, it was as nervous as I’ve ever been. I was back home where I had a lot of success. A place I thought I never would have to leave. It was tough watching from the other side because my heart was still there. It never left.”
Kemp, who has played all but one game, started off 3-for-his-first 16 (.188) but notched his first extra-base hit Wednesday and, with a double and walk, was the lone Dodger to reach base against Arizona starter Patrick Corbin.
Perhaps most notably, he’s displayed dramatic improvement in the field, making a diving catch against the fence Monday night against the Diamondbacks. The hits will come, he says. So will the power. And no matter what transpires, he says, he’ll be the ultimate teammate, cleansing himself of the criticism he heard once he left San Diego and Atlanta.
“That was the only thing that ever bothered me,” Kemp said. “People are going to say what they want, but I was never a bad, bad teammate. I might have made a mistake here or there, and was frustrated at times, but I always put the team first.
“But the minute I leave San Diego, I hear, ‘He was horrible here.’ The minute I leave Atlanta, ‘He was horrible here.’ You got all of this stuff behind the scenes going on, and you’re going to put this on me?
“There were things that frustrated me when I was younger. I would say some things that frustrated me. And when you’re younger, it’s easier to lose because you’re just trying to get established.”
These days, the Dodgers see a much more mature teammate, a leader with some of the young players, and a man who desperately wants to win.
“I’m older now, I’ve got something to prove,” Kemp says. “Now, I’ve got my chance. I want to win, and bring a little swag along the way.
“Pretty cool, right?”