Position: 2B

Born: 10/31/1991

Height: 5'6

Weight: 265

B/T: L/R

Acquired: ACQUIRED: Fifth round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft (HOU). CURRENT SEASON STATS: .298 with one homer, 10 RBI and four steals in 34 games at Fresno (Triple-A). PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Fresno May 16 when OF Preston Tucker was sent down. DEBUT: May 17, in a 6-5, 11-inning win against the White Sox. Kemp came on in the eighth inning as a pinch-runner for 1B Tyler White and scored a run. White had led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a single by Jake Marisnick when Kemp came in for him. He scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Jose Altuve. PLAYER NOTES: Kemp would get his first at-bats the next night, May 18, when he batted ninth and started in left field in a 5-3 win against the White Sox. He went 2-for-3 in that game, including a double, and contributed on defense with an outfield assist to nail Adam Eaton at second base. One of the most popular players in Vanderbilt University history, Kemp’s promotion could not have come at a more fortuitous time, as the Grizzlies were in the middle of a four-game series at Nashville, where he probably had as big a personal cheering section as the entire “hometown” team did. The SEC Player of the Year in 2013, Kemp is a smart player with great instincts and plays the game with the kind of obvious joy that can’t be faked. Part of a burgeoning if unofficial “Height Doesn’t Measure Heart” (aka HDMH) movement started by 5-foot-8 Toronto pitcher Marcus Stroman, the 5-foot-6 sparkplug hit a combined .306 between Corpus Christi (Double-A) and Fresno in 2015, with three homers, 48 RBIs and 35 steals in 121 games, after batting a combined .316 the previous season between Lancaster (High A) and Corpus Christi with eight home runs, 58 RBIs and 41 steals to go with 30 doubles for a .449 SLG. He takes a minor league career .303 average into his big league debut, and is the system’s top second base prospect.