The Los Angeles Dodgers concluded Alumni Weekend with Matt Kemp Day at Dodger Stadium to welcome back the former All-Star outfielder for a retirement ceremony.
Kemp signed a one-day contract to officially end his career with the Dodgers, the team that selected him in the sixth round of the 2003 MLB Draft.
Kemp touched on many topics while speaking to reporters, including his favorite players to watch. “There’s a lot of different guys. Of course Freddie (Freeman) is my favorite. I played with him in Atlanta and he’s here now. He’s one of my favorite players,” Kemp said.
“Of course Mookie (Betts), (Shohei) Ohtani, I could name all the Dodger players as my favorites. Then you’ve got (Ronald) Acuña and (Juan) Soto. There’s a lot of young, great talent. Baseball is on another level now.”
With Ohtani establishing himself as an elite two-way player, Kemp was asked if he could have hit and pitched at the big league level. “Oh, absolutely not. I wouldn’t want to do that,” Kemp began.
“If I got hurt being an outfielder, I definitely would’ve got hurt being a pitcher and an outfielder. That would be rough. I’d be blowing out every other day.”
While he didn’t pitch during his MLB career, Kemp still proved to be a big bat for the Dodgers. In parts of 10 seasons with the team, he hit .292/.348/.494 with 240 doubles, 203 home runs and 733 RBI, earning three All-Star Game selections, two Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Sluggers.
Matt Kemp Day highlights
Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis emceed Kemp’s retirement ceremony, which included a video montage of highlights from his career in L.A., and recorded messages from Kenley Jansen, Dee Strange-Gordon, Juan Pierre and more former teammates.
Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw also presented Kemp with his Dodgers No. 27 jersey and one-day contract to make his retirement official.
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