It has been well documented over the 140+ year history of professional baseball that major league baseball players have the largest egos among all professional athletes. I mean, who hasn’t heard the story of Babe Ruth calling his home run shot or Reggie Jackson’s claim that he owned the month of October. Granted, there have been a lot of guys who have had outstanding careers who could teach us all a lesson in humility, guys like Orel Hershiser, Andy Pettitte, Lou Gehrig just to name a few, but by and large most baseball players on the highest level didn’t get there by being humble – and that’s okay.

If you were to scroll down the current Dodger roster and pick out the guys with the biggest egos, Matt Kemp’s name would have to be among those that jumps out at you first; after all, who in their right mind would ever proclaim that they were going to be the first baseball player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases? In contrast, if you scroll down that same Dodger roster, the guy who seems to be the least hung up on ego just so happens to be the guy who leads the Dodgers in home runs – and by a rather wide margin. I am, of course, speaking of Adrian Gonzalez.

For a guy who considers himself ‘a singles guy’, Adrian Gonzalez it anything but. He recently hit three home runs in as many days. (Photo credit – David Zalubowski)

Aside from the incredible charity work that Gonzalez and his wife Betsy are involved in, A-Gon is perhaps the quietest (and best) veteran leader in the Dodger clubhouse. He is also one of several non-pitching Dodgers who has had shoulder surgery within the past few years. In his own words, A-Gon has said numerous times that his shoulder injury and subsequent surgery has forced him to alter his once long, sweeping (and beautiful) left-handed swing simply because he cannot follow through the way that he could prior to his injury.

“I can still hit home runs, that is not going to be an issue” Gonzalez said during a May 5, 2013 interview with Dodger beat reporter Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times. “(But) the full power is not the same. Last year, I tried to go back to the swing I had before I got hurt, I tried it for the whole first half, with horrible results. I was a .280 hitter, now I’m more of a .300 hitter,” added the 31-year-old San Diego native.

And though you wouldn’t know it by looking at his stats this season, Gonzalez proclaims himself as more of a ‘singles hitter’ since his surgery, this in spite of fact that he leads the Dodgers in home runs (13) and doubles (19).

“(I’m) still a singles hitter. If I happen to hit a home run, I’m going to take it, but I’m still a singles hitter. I’m just trying to get singles up the middle.”

So what does any of this have to do with Matt Kemp? Perhaps nothing, but then again, perhaps everything.

Anyone who watched Kemp at all during the first two months of the season knows that he was awful. He was chasing balls out of the zone reminiscent of the 2010 version of Matt Kemp and his swing was noticeably different; it had no follow through to it and, as such, it had no power to it. It was definitely not the swing that earned Kemp the NL home run title in 2011. Although I fully understand the lack of power because of his off-season shoulder surgery, it made no sense to me that Kemp couldn’t still see and hit the ball well even with less power.

After Kemp’s surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder which he suffered by running into the wall at Coors Field late last season, Kemp asked Gonzalez and Hanley Ramirez, who also had shoulder surgery, what to expect as far as recovery time and the end results of their surgeries. Both A-Gon and Hanley told Kemp that his strength would never be the same as it was before the injury and that he would have to make adjustments to his swing accordingly; but this valuable information and advice apparently did the proverbial ‘in one ear and out the other’ thing with Kemp, because it appeared that he was trying to duplicate his swing of old over the past week – albeit with rather impressive results.

…until last night.

In his first at bat against Giants right-hander Matt Cain, Kemp took a full ‘2011 version’ Matt Kemp swing (missing the ball) and immediately grabbed his left shoulder, dropped his bat and began walking around in obvious pain. Like every other Dodger fan watching the game, my immediate response was “Oh no, not again.”

Kemp was in obvious pain after a swing and miss in Friday night’s 10-2 win over the Giants. (Photo credit – Kyle Terada)

After a brief assessment by Dodger head trainer Sue Falsone and manager Don Mattingly, Kemp was allowed to finish the at bat and (thankfully) drew a walk – but the damage was done. Kemp was removed from the game an inning later. The preliminary report was that Kemp had suffered “irritation of the his left AC (acromioclavicular) joint” where the collarbone meets the shoulder. It was further reported that this ‘irritation’ was not in the same area of Kemp’s surgically repaired labrum. Kemp was given a cortisone injection to ease the pain.

So what does all of this mean? Let me put it this way – two weeks ago when the Dodgers were in San Diego to play the Padres, June 21st to be exact, Padres lefty Clayton Richard walked off of the mound after making only two pitches with what was later diagnosed as an AC joint strain, for which he, too, received a cortisone injection. Like Kemp, Richard also recently had shoulder surgery. He is also still on the disabled list for his AC strain with no return date in sight. In other words, I fear that this Matt Kemp AC irritation thing may be far more serious than what is being called a “day to day” thing.

Padres left-hander Clayton Richard recently left a game after making only two pitches for what was later determined to be a strained AC joint, an injury for which he is still on the DL and a similar injury that Kemp suffered on Friday night. (Photo credit – Christopher Hanewinckel)

“I took some swings in the (indoor) cage and it hurt a lot,” Kemp told reporters after Friday night’s game. “Right now, it feels good, but cortisone makes anything feel better. We’ll see tomorrow and go from there. I definitely won’t be playing tomorrow.”

If it “hurt a lot” after a cortisone injection, I can only imagine how it will feel when the cortisone wears off, and I can’t help but think that Kemp will be doing that “day to day” thing on the DL.

Please understand that I am not bagging on Matt Kemp for re-injuring his left shoulder, not at all. Lord knows he was just starting to hit the ball with power again, including hitting home runs in each of his two previous games against the Rockies. But Kemp needs to realize that because of his previous shoulder injury and surgery, he will never have the same swing that he did prior to that injury, and he needs to check his ego a little and heed the advice given to him by Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and undoubtedly by the Dodgers medical and training staff.

Regardless, I hope I am wrong about the severity of Kemp’s latest injury and hope that he actually is only day to day and will return to the lineup soon.