If you were with us last year you probably remember the now infamous comment by reader Chuck Savnil of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida regarding Matt Kemp and his fantasy frustrations with Joe Torre pinning Matt Kemp so far down in the Dodgers batting order.

"Even though he's been stuck in the 6/7/8 position all year, now that interleague play has begun, Joe Torre's dream has finally come true. He batted Matt Kemp ninth today. Clearly Kemp viciously sodomized Torre's daughter, or Torre, or something."

Despite Joe Torre burying him in the line-up, Matt Kemp was one of the most productive offensive players in all of baseball last year. His line of .297 / 26 HR's / 101 RBI / 34 SB / 97 RS / SLG .490 was a fantasy players dream.

Last month I opined that Torre's use of Kemp might have been the biggest misuse of an impact player that we've seen in our lifetime. Can you think of another player that could hit for average, power and run like Kemp can that batted so consistently so far down in the order?

Perhaps Joe Torre read our post (either that or Kemp has made amends with the Torre family....) Yesterday, Torre had Kemp batting in the two hole behind leadoff man Rafael Furcal and ahead of sluggers Andre Ethier and Manny Ramirez.

Torre isn't asking Kemp to sacrifice though, he wants Kemp to utilize the tools that Kemp's fantasy baseball owners are salivating over; his ability to bat for average, hit HR's, drive in runs, steal bases and score runs.

"We don't want Matt Kemp to give himself up,'' Torre said. "But I think that second spot has changed its personality a lot. Years ago when you had Pee Wee Reese hitting second, his job was to move the runner and stuff. Now you want to move the runner all the way around to score.''

Kemp had 55 at-bats in the No. 2 spot last season, but had more batting fourth (111), fifth (70), sixth (100), seventh (174) and eighth (76). He had only five RBI out of the second spot last season.

Kemp already knows how to drive in runs, having pushed across 101 last season, 25 more than his first full season in the big leagues in 2008 but that number could take a hit if Kemp is batting in a spot not normally reserved for RBI men.

"Man, I hit one through nine since I've been in the big leagues and I can hit anywhere,'' Kemp said. "If that's where Joe wants me to hit, that's where I'm going to hit. I'll just do the best I can to get on base for the big boys.''

Kemp was the 2009 winner of the Silver Slugger Award for National League center fielders and finished 10th in National League MVP voting. And as Torre sees it, there have been some pretty decent players that have batted second.

"(Don) Mattingly hit two, Alex Rodriguez hit two,'' Torre said. "Matt, I think a big part of it in my thinking is the fact that he's going to be hitting in front of some thunder, so he'll get some pitches to hit. He can do some damage with pitches to hit. He's been much more disciplined than I thought he would be last year than he was the year before. He's only going to get better.''

"Batting second, I know (Furcal) is going to get on and cause havoc on the bases,'' Kemp said. "He's going to run and my job is to drive him in or get on base and let (Ethier and Ramirez) drive me in.''

Matt Kemp had a team-leading 139 strikeouts in 2009, but with the meat of the order coming up behind him and other teams not being able to pitch around him, there is no reason he can't cut those down.

While Kemp's opportunity for RBI may suffer a bit, he should thrive in every other category, more than making up for it and making fantasy owners happy campers..

This move should work well for the Dodgers and fantasy owners alike. If you were playing fantasy baseball in 2002 and had Alfonso Soriano on your team, you remember what moving a player with Kemp's skills to the top of the order can do (.300 / 39 HR / 41 SB / 102 / RBI / 128 RS). That's the type of production that Matt Kemp has the opportunity to achieve this season. - Jason Lockhart

Jason is an aspiring sports journalist currently enrolled at Stanford University.

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