COULD IT BE A STAR IS BORN?

Byline: Steve Dilbeck

These things are not supposed to happen. Not in real life, anyway. Maybe in a storybook or a sappy movie, but not on a genuine, live major-league field.

Not when a couple weeks ago, Matt Kemp still was experiencing a first taste of life at the Double-A level. Not when a few years ago, he was thinking basketball was the way to go.

Kemp should still be getting used to this professional baseball thing with the Jacksonville Suns, not with the Dodgers, making like Duke Snider. He should not be batting cleanup for the Dodgers by his 10th professional game. He should not be hitting four home runs in six days. And he most definitely should not be just crushing a Pedro Martinez pitch for a two-run homer.

But it all has happened, and Kemp's not asking questions, not worrying about the big names in the lineup surrounding him or future Hall of Famers opposing him on the mound.

``He's having fun,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said. ``He's a talented kid. He doesn't know who's pitching out there. He's heard a little bit about Pedro and seen him on TV. He probably collected his baseball card.

``But when he gets up to the plate, his natural ability is to try and see the ball and hit it hard somewhere. That's all he's doing.''

Like it's real simple. Like anyone could do it.

The outfielder certainly did it last year at Single-A Vero Beach, where he set the franchise record in home runs (27) and slugging percentage (.569), while batting .306 with 90 RBIs.

The road from Vero Beach to Chavez Ravine is normally long, and one few ever complete. And the Dodgers' system is rife with prospects coveted by other organizations.

Yet even if Kemp's season at Vero Beach last year announced his arrival as a unadulterated prospect, it remained unreasonable to expect he could possibly play a significant role with the 2006 Dodgers. But as injuries mounted, more and more kids were called up. Each came through, though none came with the explosion of Kemp's arrival.

That was Kemp, batting fifth Saturday, lining a run- scoring single in the first inning against Colorado, then stealing second and scoring. That was Kemp doubling in a run in the third, and then scoring.

Looking relaxed beyond his 21 years, looking calm as a veteran. Looking almost ridiculously at home.

``I'm just as relaxed as I can be,'' Kemp said. ``I feel like I'm out there just doing the same things I've been doing in the minor leagues. Right now, I feel good.''

Like it was effortless, this jump after less than twomonths at Double-A.

Several other highly regarded prospects with Triple-A experience have preceded him this season -- Russell Martin, Willy Aybar, Andre Ethier, Joel Guzman -- and done amazingly well.

And now comes Kemp, who, for the moment, appears he could outshine them all.

``A lot of times when you go out looking for a baseball player to sign as a free agent, you're looking for a player who can maybe execute three of the five tools -- running, hitting, hitting with power, throwing and fielding,'' Little said. ``This kid can execute all five and we could see it in spring training.

``And he executes all five in above-average fashion. I mean, there are a lot of players who went in that Major League Baseball draft (last week) very high and can only do but two or three of those tools above average. Some of them, maybe just one.''

Kemp's athleticism could have taken him away from baseball. He grew up in Midwest City, a small suburb of Oklahoma City, as a two-sport star. More often his dreams were about being the next Michael Jordan than the next Alex Rodriguez.

``At first, I was kind of hard-headed,'' Kemp said. ``I wanted to play basketball. Everybody was playing basketball.''

His father, Carl Kemp, played baseball at Langston University, a small black college in Oklahoma. Dad saw a brighter, longer future for his son in baseball.

``My parents, they know everything,'' the youngster said. ``Sometimes you have to listen to your parents. I did that, and I'm glad.''

So now, the former sixth-round pick is in the major leagues, living in a hotel both while the team is on the road and at home in Los Angeles.

``But I'm looking into a place to stay,'' Kemp said.

What, he should plan on leaving? The odds are great he will be sent back down to the minors, that when Ricky Ledee and Jason Repko and even Jayson Werth return from injury -- although none are close -- Kemp will head down for more experience.

There will be the inevitable slumps. Times when the game does not come so easily, when curveballs buckle his knees, inside fastballs freeze his swing.

Yet his trial has an indefinite run for now, and if he keeps approaching his current level of play, it is far from inconceivable that he could stick.

``Not if we think he's going to be the one who can help us win more,'' Little said. ``We'll operate on the same philosophy -- we're going to try and put the best team on the field to win.''

That would be some climb. Some movie-feel rise to the top. It shouldn't happen, of course, but that song is sounding familiar.

stephen.dilbeck(at)dailynews.com.

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(color) Dodgers rookie Matt Kemp is hitting .342 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 12 games.

Francis Specker/Associated Press