Matt Kemp's start is no mirage

[cruzg24]

For all that Matt Kemp is doing right now – crushing baseballs, running like a sprinter, carrying a moribund franchise, spinning the earth on its axis to reverse time – let us remember: He is no Chris Shelton.
Never is there a better time to remember Shelton than two weeks into the season. What Tuffy Rhodes is to opening day Chris Shelton is to the first two weeks. In 2006, when Shelton was a fairly anonymous 25-year-old first baseman, he went on the tear of all first-two-weeks tears. As staggering as Kemp's line was after another home run Sunday – .487/.523/1.026 with six homers and 16 RBIs – Shelton went .512/.535/1.293 over his first 10 games with the Detroit Tigers in '06. And then, for good measure, he hit bombs in games No. 12 and 13.

Matt Kemp crosses home plate after hitting the first of his two home runs on Saturday. (Getty)
By the end of July, Shelton was back in the minor leagues, mustering a .246/.319/.371 line after playing Barry Ruth for a fortnight. Hitting a baseball might be the toughest thing in sports, but it doesn't make Herculean feats an impossibility for even those without the blessing of otherworldly talent.

Which, as it turns out, Matt Kemp has. It makes his spurt here no less impressive, of course. The scariest thing about Kemp is that at 27 years old, he finally understands who he is as a baseball player and what he can do. Not one of Kemp's six home runs this year has gone to his pull side. Two to dead center field and four, including Sunday's, to right-center. It takes scary raw power to consistently punch home runs to the opposite field. It takes even more discipline for a player to understand his swing works in such a fashion.
What we're seeing, then, is the self-actualization of a player like Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, born with gifts that the rest of us without only hope to see materialize. We saw it last season, and even more this year …

Matt Kemp is wowing us on a nightly basis. And for as much as the San Diego Padres' pitching staff is to blame – or, in Kemp's case, thank – all of his home runs have come in Petco Park and Dodger Stadium, two of the five worst hitters' parks in the major leagues. The power and performance are very, very real.

It didn't take Ted Williams vision to notice that after last season, when Kemp should've won the National League MVP – and not because Ryan Braun ostensibly used synthetic testosterone but because Kemp simply was a better player. Kemp told Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown he wanted to go 50-50 this year, and it seemed all hubris and chest-thumping and machismo, but damn if the first 50 seems well within reach, if not altogether likely.

Source: Yahoo Sports

I couldnt believe he said he wanted 50-50 and pretty much it was a joke. But with this amazing start, he is really serious about this and going after it.

 

[Mexi]

i'm so glad we locked him up
he might be playing his way on to the Yankees if we didnt

8/160 FTW

 

[cruzg24]

Kemp is on a decent deal right now. Im a huge proponent against paying a player for a contract 6+ years. But at the end of this contract Kemp will be like 34 or 35 so its not that bad because he will be in the prime of his career throughout the majority of his contract. I still dont think Kemp will reach 50 SB's because even the best stealers in the league have trouble getting to 50. I think he'll have around 35.

 

[Mexi]

i agree with you on the steals
i didnt even think he'd get 40 either last year, but he did
50 homers? maybe, but probably not

as for the contract, exactly why it was a good deal
he would have for sure gotten more than what he got on the market. and since he's 27, his contract will be his prime years. it was a good deal

 

[Elite]

2012 League Ranks:
 • 1st in NL in BA (.487)
 • 1st in NL in HR (6)
 • 1st in NL in RBI (16)
 • 1st in NL in R (13)
 • 1st in NL in OBP (.523)
 • 1st in NL in SLG (1.026)
 • 1st in NL in OPS (1.548)

Kemp's a nut

 

[Mexi]

lets go beyond NL
he's first in all those categories in MLB

and he just won player of the week for the 3rd straight week. last week of last season, both weeks this season.

he definitely feels slighted that he didnt get the MVP. wants to leave no doubt this year

 

[elcheato]

Unless he plans on shattering the BA record and Barry Bonds' home run record, it is technically a mirage

 

[Mexi]

he could still legitimately go 40/40 and win the triple crown this year
(i know the triple crown is overrated, it's still so rare that it'd be cool if it happened)