PEORIA, Ariz. -- Cal Ripken had his famous offseason basketball games. The San Diego Padres have their 3-point shooting contest and Matt Kemp is having a blast.

For 15 minutes or so each day for a couple of weeks, the Padres head to the basketball hoop located outside the clubhouse door on the way to the practice fields for a little team bonding. Basketballs are lined up in carts like you’d see at the NBA 3-point contest and manager Bud Black stands at the top of the court counting the baskets as two teams of four shooters face off. The players surround the court and whoop and holler with every make, miss and especially when the occasional air ball is fired up. Compared to this pressure, staring down Clayton Kershaw is a piece of cake.

You do not want to lose. Not only is pride at stake, but you face the wrath of Kemp, who was a high school basketball star in Oklahoma. Black sets up the contest NCAA-bracket style, seeding all the teams. Kemp’s team has already advanced to the next round so he’s leading the whooping and hollering. On this day, a team featuring general manager A.J. Preller -- looking every bit like the youngest GM in the game with his baggy athletic shorts hanging down to his knees -- wins, with Preller draining shot after shot.

Kemp lets the losing team hear it.

"Don't be a sore loser just because you got your a-- whipped by the front office," he laughs. That’s a little unfair; Preller’s team included non-roster pitcher Jay Jackson and Triple-A outfielder Rico Noel. But that’s the point: Having fun with the contest, a few minutes away from the spring training grind of workouts and drills. Another player yells out "Sabermetrics!" as the session wraps up. Later, as the Padres are on the practice field loosening up, Kemp turns around and yells back at Preller, standing a hundred yards away with some other Padres officials back by the clubhouse.

"You better shoot some shots right now," Kemp shouts. "You better have a team practice!"

Game on.

Earlier, Kemp is more subdued in the clubhouse. He returns from his morning turn in the indoor cage and digs into a lunch he brought himself, packed neatly into one of those polyester cooler bags: a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, a plastic container of pineapple. There’s a cafeteria across the hall from the clubhouse but Kemp prefers his own food.

"I just try to eat right, put good food in my body," says the two-time All-Star and 2011 MVP runner-up. He says he’s always tried to eat this way, but when asked about the Dodgers offering their players only healthy, organic food in their cafeteria this year, he quickly interrupts: "I play for the Padres, man."

The Padres made the biggest headlines all winter, trading for Kemp and fellow outfielders Justin Upton and Wil Myers to help rejuvenate an offense that scored a putrid 3.3 runs per game in 2014, worst in the majors. The Pads haven't seen an outfielder hit at least 25 home runs since Bubba Trammell did in 2001. They also signed free-agent starter James Shields right before spring training began. But Kemp is the focal point of all those moves, the guy who gives the Padres their biggest marquee name since Tony Gwynn was in his prime. He comes with a little swagger and maybe that’s a good thing for a franchise that has been more ignored in recent years than it has been terrible. Ticket sales are up in San Diego, the city has a buzz about the team, more gear is flying off the shelves. Second baseman Jedd Gyorko says the difference this year is "we expect to win."

Kemp isn’t worried about all that. He’s just getting his work in. "Get a sweat going," he says of his spring routine. "Go in the cage, maybe do some extra work in the outfield, every day is different. Today, it was lifting weights and working on my path in the cage, trying to hit line drives and just trying to be perfect in the cage."

Kemp hit .324 in 2011, leading the National League with 39 home runs, 126 RBIs and 115 runs. He was off to a monster start in 2012 but hurt his hamstring and later his shoulder. Still, he hit .303 with 23 home runs in 106 games before undergoing offseason shoulder surgery. He played 73 games in 2013, missing the postseason with an ankle injury, and when he got off to a slow start in 2014, everyone speculated that his best days were behind him. But Kemp rebounded in the second half, hitting .309/.365/.606 with 17 home runs in 236 at-bats.

Only four players had a higher wOBA in the second half. But the Dodgers, with a crowded outfield and wanting to clear a space for rookie center fielder Joc Pederson, traded Kemp to a division rival, even picking up some of his salary. The Padres are betting on that second-half Kemp for 2015. As Kemp heated up last year, he particularly mashed fastballs:

Kemp slugged .728 against fastballs after the All-Star break, with four of his 11 home runs off fastballs going to right-center or right field. At his best, that’s what he does: Crush fastballs and hit with power to all fields. In 2013, he hit .329 against fastballs but slugged just .471. In 2012, he slugged .680 against fastballs; in 2011, .727.

Kemp says he doesn’t sit on fastballs but looks for a pitch in a specific area. "It varies, depends on what pitcher you’re facing. I have a zone that I look in and if it’s in that zone, I try to put a good swing on it. The count doesn’t really affect anything I have going on. I don’t go away from the plan the whole game. Of course, you have to adjust if something different is going on, but you always have to be a little aggressive but under control. You don’t want to go away from your approach."

Asked about a specific plan against a guy like Madison Bumgarner, Kemp laughs. "I’m not going to sit here and tell what I’m looking for. Most pitchers make a mistake once or twice in a game and if they make a mistake to you, you got to make sure you don’t miss that pitch you’re looking for." (For the record, Kemp has hit .212 in his career against Bumgarner with one home run in 33 at-bats.)

Petco Park is known as a pitchers’ park, especially early in the season when the marine layer seems to put a cap on fly balls, but Kemp is a career .322 hitter there with a .495 slugging percentage. Plus, the right-center fence was brought in a couple of seasons ago, making that area of the park a little more fair.

"I’m not worried about the park," Kemp says. "It’s a beautiful park with a beautiful background and I see the ball well there and hope to continue to have great success there."

His new outfield mate Upton, who spent most of his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks, has also played a lot at Petco and hit well there, with a career .318 average and .549 slugging percentage, his highest at any park besides Coors Field. That previous success is one reason the Padres aren’t concerned how Kemp’s and Upton’s power will play at home.

The big concern that analysts have raised is how the outfield defense will play out. Myers is moving to center field after playing right field in Tampa Bay. Kemp’s defensive metrics have slid in recent seasons, although that’s less of an issue as he plays a corner outfield as opposed to center.

Right now, Black seems OK with his new trio. "Players will tell you they don’t pay attention to what’s being said about them," he said. "But they know and they have a lot of pride. Myers gets good reads and takes good routes. Upton is a solid defender who has played both corners. Kemp has won a Gold Glove, right? I know I voted for him."

As for Kemp, he looked like 2011 Matt Kemp on Tuesday, lining a ball into the right-center gap against the Mariners and sliding in for a headfirst triple. If the legs and ankle stay healthy, they should help him put up big numbers in 2015.

And before the Padres open the regular season against, yes, the Dodgers, maybe win a 3-point contest as well.