Matt Kemp’s choice to work hard in the offseason and rededicate himself to the game has produced great results this season. The 33-year-old outfielder became an All-Star for the first time since 2012 and is enjoying his best season in the bigs since his previous stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
So where was this Kemp between now and 2014? It probably has to do a lot with just how bad he was out of shape before this season.
The Athletic’s Pedro Moura wrote an article on Wednesday about Kemp’s physical turnaround. He says that before Kemp began working out seriously over the offseason, the outfielder weighed 282 pounds and had 23.3 percent body fat. Those numbers are more in line with a football lineman, not an outfielder who needs to chase down balls.
We knew that Kemp had lost 40 pounds during the offseason, but we did not know how big he was before then. He had lost his range, probably did not have a lot of self-confidence, and was not in good overall health mentally or physically. The weight also explains why the Braves wanted him to get into better shape.
As a professional athlete, part of your job entails maintaining a certain type of physical condition. When you don’t do that, you’re not doing your job, and the results can be seen on the field. Though Kemp slipped and let his weight become a problem, credit to him for turning it around and getting back on track.
