The Twins are bringing veteran second baseman/left fielder Tony Kemp aboard on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The Ballengee Group client will presumably head to Triple-A St. Paul to begin his tenure with the organization.
Kemp, 32, began the season with the Orioles but was designated for assignment when Baltimore called up No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday. He went unclaimed on waivers and rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency. He’ll now join up with a Minnesota club that has seen its infield depth immediately thinned out by injuries.
Minnesota lost star third baseman Royce Lewis to a quad strain in the first game of the season, and shortstop Carlos Correa recently hit the injured list with an oblique strain. That’s pushed utilitymen Willi Castro and Kyle Farmer into more regular roles. Former top prospect Austin Martin has gotten some time on the infield dirt as well, but he’s also being used in the outfield with Max Kepler currently on the injured list due to a knee contusion suffered when fouling a ball into his leg. Jose Miranda, another former top prospect who had a strong debut showing in 2022 before seeing his 2023 campaign ruined by shoulder surgery, is also back in the corner infield mix at the big league level.
While Kemp’s 2023 season was one he’d like to forget — he hit just .209/.303/.304 in 419 plate appearances with Oakland — he was a solid contributor for the A’s from 2020-22. In that time, he hit .252/.341/.361 while playing both second base and left field. Kemp is a career .237/.324/.351 hitter who’s walked in 10.1% of his plate appearances and fanned at just a 13.3% clip. That latter number could hold particular appeal to a Twins club that has been allergic to contact both this year and last. Dating back to 2023, no team in baseball has a higher strikeout rate than Minnesota’s woeful 26.7% clip.
Was about to comment that this was a useless move, but his offensive capabilities are realistically on par with Wallner’s and Castro’s thus far this season… Twins really need to fire Popkins.
1. It’s been two weeks.
2. Comparing 32 year old Kemp to younger players like Wallner in the shadow of “thus far this season” is ridiculous. If you want to kvetch about Popkins then do that, but Wallner and Kemp are not comparable players at all.
Kemp should be a useful utility bench bat, he will probably have an ops below league average but there isn’t a stat for leadership
What’s his pay for this ML contract?
Good question. Os are on the hook for a million but no idea if that contract carries over here if he’s selected.
Pro rated league minimum for the days he’s on a MLB roster. The difference is paid by the team he had a guaranteed contract with.
Can’t be any worse than 1/3 of our lineup so far this year:( we have what, three guys hitting under .100?
I wonder if tony is feeling like a last second prom date alternate
O’s will send a big box of crab cakes to the Twins if they’ll hurry him to back to the Bigs so the O’s don’t have to pay him the prorated minimum.
Mmm crab cake
Ever have a Mason Dixon line? Crab cake on a cheese steak.
Crab cake on a cheesesteak is a big fat no.
Both great and all but no shot