The San Diego Padres dropped two out of three games to the Chicago Cubs this week, and someone they were not getting much help from was from their No. 3 hitter, outfielder Matt Kemp.
After batting .326 in April, Kemp is batting .126 in May and has a strikeout to walk ratio of 20:1. He has recorded 13 hits in 78 plate appearances so far this month, only two of which went for extra bases, though.
Kemp, who blasted 25 homers last season and has a career-high of 39, has one home run on the season, which came against the Cubs in Chicago back in April.
He has traditionally struggled in May with a career .262 batting average, lowest of any month. He also has a career-low 14 homers in May, 14 lower than any other month.
Kemp’s struggles were on display during the Padres and Cubs three-game series at Petco Park, where he struck out six times and recorded one hit, a single, over that stretch.
The 30-year-old Kemp was acquired from the rival Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason for catcher Yasmani Grandal and two minor leaguers.
He has had great success throughout his 10-year big league career with two All-Star appearances, two Gold Gloves and finished second in the 2o11 MVP voting.
The Padres travel up to Los Angeles Friday to take on Kemp’s former team with Andrew Cashner (1-7, 3.24 ERA) getting the nod for the Friars against Zack Greinke (5-1, 1.52 ERA) for the Dodgers.
