Odds and Ends: Taveras, Kemp, Mota

Re Cameron's Fangraphs piece on Matt Kemp, this was posted by a person on DodgerThoughts who is one of the most knowledgeable people around when it comes to their younger players and minor leaguers. Since he says it better than I could, here's Canuck's take:
[re: "The 'he's young' thing works for only so long, and Kemp is rapidly getting to the point where he needs to produce at the plate":] It really is insufficient to say that I disagree with that. The statement is astonishingly stupid. Kemp IS young, less experienced than most professional baseball players his age because of his basketball background, and yet for all that he HAS produced "at the plate," to a tune of .299/.340/.471 in the majors in parts of three seasons before his 24th birthday. I don't care if somebody says he did it with luck or voodoo, he DID IT. Now let's put this in some context. Chase Utley is talked about as God's gift to hitting. Sure, at age 29. Utley didn't make the majors till his age 24 season, and all he could produce then was a line of .239/.322/.373. At age 25, all Utley was good for was MLB production of .266/.308/.468. Utley wasn't much of an asset to the Phillies till he was 26, and that isn't at all uncommon in the majors. Yet Kemp and other Dodger youngsters are looked at like failures if they don't look bound for the Hall of Fame before they are 25. It is total nonsense and I won't hesitate to call it for what it is."

Add to that, he unfairly maligns his defense too. Kemp leads NL in assists last I checked and has 1 error. And again, this is someone who is young and still fairly inexperienced.

Suggesting that a Dodger prospect/young player is overrated? Prepare yourself Tim, your site is about to be overrun with fury and venom.

I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D SAY KEMP IS OVERRATED!!! (just kidding)

I can see how people see that, being he has around 100 K's already this year, and poor base running skills...

He's my favorite Dodger, and within the next 2-3 years will really shine.

I am a Kemp fan personally, though I have to admit some of that is fantasy baseball. But, I thought it'd generate good discussion and was definitely related to the hot stove.

You know what Matt Kemp is? He is a bigger, stronger, faster version of Raul Mondesi, with a better ability to hit for average and less tendency to make fielding errors. He is extremely aggressive at the plate and a lot of people seem to forget that he has a big strike zone at 6'2" and tall at the plate. That isn't always a bad thing, seeing that Mondesi too much of the same approach and was a hell of a contributor.

"and poor base running skills.."

What? A 76% SB percentage does not say "poor base running". What a lot of people don't realize is that much of that "poor base running" is either a product of Kemp attempting to get caught up in a rundown to score a run or a product of his aggressive hustle.

"I am a Kemp fan personally, though I have to admit some of that is fantasy baseball."

Honestly, I think people's love for fantasy baseball sometimes clouds their view of a player's ability to influence a game.

agressive base running is one thing, but I've seen games where he runs with his head down....once rounding 2nd getting to 3rd only to see Loney standing there.

Regardless, Kemp's the man!

I like Kemp, but I think my view of him has been tempered a bit by reality... and as a result I do think viewing him through the lens of the Raul Mondesi experience does make me a bit hesitant to crown him as the next Pedro Guerrero.

He's obviously extremely talented. Raw physical talent. But of all the "Dodger Kids", I would not count him among the ones who I think are natural born hitters... Ethier, Delwyn Young... those guys I just watch over the course of games and they just have hitting in their blood. It's not necessarily about batting average, but "natural born hitters" are the ones who turn it up a notch in the clutch, and have a great instinctual awareness of situational hitting.

I don't put Kemp in that category. I DO think he has more power, of course, and I think he's obviously got the hand/eye coordination to be a successful hitter in MLB, but he hasn't shown me that certain something that differentiates a good "statistical" hitter from a Garciaparra, for example, who has a batting average in the 400's as a Dodger with men in scoring position.

I think he has all the potential in the world, but he needs to develop his "eye of the tiger" a bit, for lack of a better expression.

Additionally, his baserunning is horrid. No, I'm not talking about getting tossed for trying to stretch a double, I'm talking about hitting a single and driving in a run... and getting caught napping between first and second because he looks like he was paying too much attention to the action at the plate, and not enough attention to his own physical location too far off first. And NO, he was not trying to "get into a pickle" to score the run, he's been caught napping several times, quite obviously.

I definitely think the Dodgers should hold onto Kemp and see how he develops. I think if his immense talents are channeled correctly, and he is mentored and coached properly so he develops that competitive fire, he could be unstoppable. If he is content just putting up stats, and continues to be weak at situational awareness at the plate and on the bases during games, he might be an underperformer. That's my honest take.