Colorado Rockies: Matt Kemp on playing games at Coors Field, impressions of Denver

The Colorado Rockies’ newest signee, outfielder Matt Kemp, spoke with the media, including Rox Pile, on Wednesday about Coors Field.

One of the biggest Rockies killers of the last decade is outfielder Matt Kemp. He has always played well against the Colorado Rockies but last weekend, the Rockies officially announced that they had signed Kemp on a minor-league deal and that he would be added to their 60-player pool for the 2020 season.

Kemp has been a Rockies killer primarily at Coors Field, where he has hit best in any stadium in his career that he has had more than 30 plate appearances in.

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He spoke about his tremendous success at Coors Field when he spoke to the media, including Rox Pile, on Wednesday.

“I do hit the ball well in this ballpark,” said Kemp. “I see the ball really [well] here. I like the background, with the batter’s eye with the trees. It’s just one of those ballparks that I really can get locked in [with]. If I was struggling at any time and I knew we were coming to Colorado, this was a place where I was like ‘Man, I could probably get locked in right here.’ Everybody has those one or two or three stadiums that they enjoy hitting in and this is one of [them for me].”

In 86 career games at Coors Field, here are Kemp’s numbers:

Besides playing home games at Coors Field, Kemp is excited to be a Rockie for another reason: the city of Denver.

“This is a great city,” said Kemp. “They’re building a lot of great things around here that I didn’t know they were building around here so this city is going to be booming for a while. Why not win some games and be the talk of the town?

Although he was injured in 2019 with a fractured rib, Kemp was an All-Star for the Dodgers in his second stint with them in 2018, when he hit 21 home runs, 85 RBI, a slash line of .290/.338/.481, and an OPS+ of 121. The best season of his career came in 2011, though, when he came in 2nd in NL MVP voting (to Ryan Braun, who tested positive for PEDs in 2013 and had allegations raised against him in 2011).

With Kemp’s defensive metrics not being great and the DH being implemented in the National League, Kemp could be one of the main players that the Rockies use at the DH spot or a key bat off the bench and he can prove that he still has it and the Rockies could benefit from a low-risk, high-reward signing.