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Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp will have an operation on Friday to repair damage to the labrum in his left shoulder, report Ken Gurnick and Alex Angert of MLB.com:
If only a cleanup is required, [Kemp] would be sidelined four to six weeks. If extensive repair to the labrum is necessary, he could be down up to three months.
In either case, he expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training.
Kemp suffered the shoulder injury on August 27 when he crashed into the wall at Coors Field while attempting to chase down a fly ball off the bat of Josh Rutledge. Initial MRIs revealed that there was at least some fraying in the 28-year-old's labrum, but Kemp refused to be taken out of the lineup for the final month of the season.
An MVP favorite early in the season, Kemp missed considerable time in June and July with a hamstring injury and hit just .218/.277/.427 with six home runs in the twenty-eight games following his collision with the outfield wall in Denver. In spite of his late-season struggles, Kemp still finished the year hitting .304/.369/.541 with twenty-three home runs in one hundred five games.