Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp was named National League Player of the Week for the period of May 28-June 3, becoming the organization’s first player to take home the honor this season. It’s Kemp’s sixth career time winning weekly honors.
Kemp has been on a tear at the plate since Opening Day, and in this past week, batted .429/.458/.952 with three home runs and eight RBI in seven games (five starts), with the Dodgers going 5-2 during that stretch.
Overall this season, Kemp is leading the NL in hitting and is second in all of baseball with a .344 batting average to go along with a .376 on-base percentage and .572 slugging. He is tied for the team lead with nine home runs and also leads the Dodgers with 33 RBI.
Kemp has not only been getting it done at the plate, but he has also been serviceable in the outfield as well, which no one could have expected coming into this season. He made a perfect throw to home plate over the weekend at Coors Field to gun down Charlie Blackmon trying to score on a fly out.
After a rough start to the season, the Dodgers have played much better as of late, with Kemp seemingly leading the way. Los Angeles has won 13 of their last 17 games, including a sweep over the Rockies, and at 29-30 they are only 2.5 games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the NL West.
If Kemp continues this type of production, then there’s a good chance he will be in Washington D.C. this summer for the 2018 MLB All-Star Game. It would be his first time in the Midsummer Classic since 2012, when Kemp was in the midst of his first stint with the Dodgers.
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