All-Star break helps Kemp turn a corner

OAKLAND -- The A’s sent right-hander Shintaro Fujinami to the Orioles earlier this week, and that might not be the only move they pull off between now and the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline.

Going through a rebuild and entering a final two-month stretch of the season in which they figure to give top prospects and other less-experienced players increased playing time, the A’s possess a few veteran-type players who may be of interest to playoff-contending clubs. In Friday’s 6-4 loss to the Astros at the Coliseum, Tony Kemp displayed why he might be of intrigue to some teams, reaching base three times as part of a two-hit night.

A couple of months ago, It would have been hard to envision Kemp going anywhere with his early-season struggles.

Through his first 51 games of the season, the left fielder/second baseman hit .146 with a .443 OPS and found himself dropped to the bottom of the order with dwindling playing time. In the 28 games since, however, Kemp has turned a corner, hitting .323 (30-for-93) with a .406 on-base percentage, a pair of home runs, two doubles and three triples over that stretch.

Kemp has thrust himself back into Oakland’s leadoff spot with his return to form, proving capable of providing a spark atop the lineup as he did on Friday, when his fifth-inning single helped set the table for what became a three-run frame against All-Star starter Framber Valdez.

“He’s slowly getting himself back to where he wanted to be,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said of Kemp. “He put his head down and grinded. The last six weeks, we’ve seen Tony be himself. We’ve seen great plays and great at-bats. That’s the player that Tony can be. He’s showing perseverance and fight. It’s nice to have him back playing as well as he has been playing.”

Similar to last year after going through a disappointing first half at the plate, Kemp utilized the All-Star break as an opportunity to escape the frustration by spending time with his wife, Michelle, and their 1-year-old daughter back home in Nashville, Tenn. It worked out well last year for Kemp, who went on to finish the season as one of Oakland’s top hitters, and he appears to be following a similar path in 2023.

“The All-Star break is always a good reset to just hang out with the family,” Kemp said. “We did a little barbecue at the new house that we just got. … It’s a long season. I kind of just took some pressure off myself and just wanted to go have fun and play. Being a free agent next year, I think about all the years I’ve been here. I just want to finish strong and leave a good impression on the field for the fans. It feels good to be playing better.”

Of course, the better Kemp performs over the next week and a half, the higher the likelihood becomes that teams in need of a valuable utility player will ramp up their pursuit.

As a veteran of eight big league seasons who has already been traded once before at the Deadline in 2019, the 31-year-old Kemp knows the business. The fact that he will hit free agency after this season likely enhances the possibility of a trade, and the A’s have already called up No. 3 prospect Zack Gelof with visions of him playing second base on a regular basis for the rest of the year.

“There might be some more moves, but you just have to take it a day at a time and really just enjoy your teammates,” Kemp said. “You spend more time with these guys than your family. All you really want to do is just enjoy each moment.

“If things happen, take it as it may. But if not, you’re an Oakland A, and you enjoy that, because you never know when that big league uniform is going to get taken off you. You just have to love putting on a big league uniform each day and competing.”