Matt Kemp was the first person to compare Yasiel Puig to Bo Jackson. Now Kemp is comparing the Dodgers’ rookie outfielder to Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.

“I think if he continues to do what he’s doing, he can be just as good as those guys,” Kemp said. “That’s saying a lot because those guys are really good and have done it for a whole year. He’s going to be good. You can see it.”


While rehabilitating his strained right hamstring at the Dodgers’ spring training complex in Arizona last week, the sidelined center fielder said he watched his team play every night on his laptop computer.

Kemp was impressed by what he saw from Puig.


“He looks really good right now,” Kemp said. “It’s fun to watch him. He’s doing a great job. He’s given the team a spark. Hopefully, he can continue to do that.”

Asked if Puig’s start reminded him of what he did when he broke into the major leagues in 2006, Kemp laughed and replied, “My first game, I think I had three strikeouts.”


That’s true. But Kemp was being modest. In his first 15 games, he hit seven home runs and batted .378.

He played 37 more games in the major leagues that season and didn’t hit another home run.


Asked what advice he would offer Puig, Kemp replied, “Keep working. Coming up, younger guys can tend to relax a little bit. This game is very, very hard. It’s not easy to do what he’s doing right now. There are stretches where you might struggle a little bit. He works real hard. I’d tell him to just stay aggressive and just have fun. It looks like he’s having a lot of fun out there.”

Kemp said he is looking forward to playing with Puig.


“It’ll be fun playing besides him, to have a guy like that on the team,” Kemp said. “He’s real powerful.”