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After playing in just two games, Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp has found his way back to the disabled list, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN. In an expected move, the Dodgers placed Kemp on the 15-day DL yesterday after he aggravated his hamstring injury on Wednesday. Kemp is expected to miss at least four weeks due to the hamstring injury.
#Dodgers place Matt Kemp on DL and call up Alex Castellanos from minors.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) May 31, 2012
Kemp returned to the Dodgers lineup on May 29 after spending just over two weeks on the DL because of a similar hamstring injury. During his second game back with the Dodgers Kemp aggravated the strain while running the bases.
On top of aggravating his prior hamstring injury, the Dodgers are saying that Kemp has sustained a new strain. At this point LA is expecting to be without their slugger for at least another four weeks.
Despite only playing in 36 of the Dodgers 51 games this season, Kemp leads the club in home runs and ranks second in hits and RBIs. On the season, Kemp has hit at a clip of .355/.444/.719 with 12 home runs and 28 RBIs.
The Dodgers are likely to use Tony Gwynn Jr. as Kemp’s primary replacement in center field. Gwynn has mostly manned left field for the Dodgers this season, but the 29-year-old did fill in for Kemp during his initial stint on the DL.
To give an idea of the shoes Gwynn is trying to fill, his OPS (.662) is more than 50 points lower than Kemp’s slugging percentage.