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Matt Kemp's lost season took another bad turn on Monday, as the Dodgers center fielder was placed on the 15-day disabled list with left shoulder AC joint inflammation. The move is retroactive to Saturday, one day after Kemp irritated the AC joint in his left shoulder during a swing in the second inning against the Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
With Carl Crawford activated from the disabled list on Friday after missing 30 games with a left hamstring strain, the Dodgers had a logjam in the outfield, with Crawford, Kemp, Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig all fighting for playing time.
That lasted all of two innings.
The Dodgers activated Scott Van Slyke from Triple-A Albuquerque to take Kemp's place on the roster. Van Slyke was optioned to Triple-A on Friday to make room for Crawford, and since this recall is within 10 days of that, Van Slyke gets credit for major league service time and salary as if he hadn't been optioned on Friday.
The Dodgers have used the disabled list 22 times this season, with 15 different players. Kemp is one of six players with at least two DL stints.
Kemp missed 24 games with a strained right hamstring, and that was after 51 games of powerless production, sapped by offseason shoulder surgery that was more invasive than originally thought. Kemp had to repair a torn labrum and the removal of loose tendon fragments in the rotator cuff. Kemp was unable to swing a bat until late January.
On the season Kemp is hitting .254/.309/.357 with four home runs in 61 games. He hit two of those home runs on this road trip and was hitting .273/.333/.485 in 10 games since returning from his previous DL stint.
On Monday at Chase Field, Kemp took swings in batting practice but it was decided to shut him down.
"That was my test," Kemp said, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.
It appears Kemp may not agree with the decision to go on the disabled list.
"I'm not playing so I guess I'm hurt," Kemp said, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
The earliest Kemp could be activated from the disabled list is Sunday, July 21, the final day of a three-game series in Washington D.C. against the Nationals, the Dodgers' first series coming out of the All-Star break.