Players to Watch: Diamondbacks vs. Padres
By Kody Acevedo
Jun 18, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; San Diego Padres designated hitter Matt Kemp (27) hits a solo home run against the Oakland Athletics during the fourth inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
The former Dodger has settled in nicely in San Diego this season.
Hitting .250 with 4 homers and 35 RBIs, Kemp continues to be to a solid force in the middle of the Padres lineup.
As the Padres’ everyday cleanup hitter, Kemp has the third highest average and third highest RBI total. Kemp homered on Thursday in the finale against the A’s to give him 25 RBIs on the road this year.
He is a .278 hitter when he is ahead in the count compared to a 1.73 average when he is behind in the count. So, the key to success against Kemp for the D-backs is to throw strikes early and try not to fall behind early in the count because as they numbers show, Kemp can do some damage especially when runners are at 2nd and 3rd where Kemp is hitting .333 in those situations.