Max Kepler Quietly Climbing Twins Record Books

[Cody Christie]

Max Kepler is the longest-tenured Twins player, having played in the organization for nearly half his life. He will be a free agent at the end of the season, but there are some records he can break before his departure.

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika - USA TODAY Sports

Players who play for an organization for a significant amount of time can become polarizing figures for a fan base. As a prospect, there is hope that a player will become a star at the big-league level, but that is rarely the case. There can be freezer burn when fans hear about a player from the time they are 16 years old to when they become an established regular. Organizations hope a player can develop into an above-average regular with skills on both sides of the plate. Max Kepler has only known the Twins organization since he was a teenager, and he’s quietly climbing the team’s leaderboard in multiple categories.  

Home Run Records
During his career, Kepler hasn’t been known as a home run hitter, but he’s shown flashes of power during the 2019 campaign and the second half of 2023. After a recent IL stint, he has been on fire at the plate, which has vaulted him up the team’s home run list. Kepler is one home run away from tying Brian Dozier (80 HR) for the most home runs in Target Field history. Kepler needs seven home runs to tie Miguel Sanó (162 HR) for 11th on the Twins all-time list. He likely has a chance to move into ninth place by passing Tom Brunansky (163 HR) and Brian Dozier (167 HR). However, reaching eighth place likely won’t happen, with Gary Gaetti sitting 46 home runs ahead of Kepler. 

Hit Records
During his big-league career, Kepler hasn’t been known as a contact hitter with a career .237 BA. However, he improved offensively in the second half of last season (66 games) while hitting .306/.377/.549 (.926) with 17 doubles and 12 home runs. Joe Mauer (637 hits) and Brian Dozier (459 hits) are the only Twins players with more hits at Target Field. Keper can certainly catch Dozier if he continues to hit well this season. Also, he recently passed Zoilo Versalles (188 doubles) and Jacque Jones (189 doubles) to move into 14th on the Twins all-time list. He needs two more doubles to tie Cesar Tovar, with Brian Dozier sitting 11 doubles ahead of him.  

RBI Records
RBI has become a divisive statistic in the battle between old-school and modern sabermetric fans. Older fans will point to the all-time best Twins hitters at the top of the team’s RBI records, including Harmon Killebrew, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva, and Joe Mauer. Kepler won’t be able to move into the Twin's top 10 this season, but he has an opportunity to crack the top 12. He needs eight RBIs to tie Roy Smalley (485 RBI) for 13th place on the Twins all-time list, with Dozier sitting with six more RBIs than Smalley. At Target Field, only Joe Mauer has collected more RBI, and Kepler needs 24 RBI to tie him. 

One thing is clear: Kepler’s longevity with the Twins has put him as a lock to make the team’s Hall of Fame when he retires. His defense has been among the league’s best in right field for most of the last decade. He was critical to the team’s playoff run in 2023 with a tremendous second-half performance. Kepler is also setting himself up for a nice payday in what will likely be his lone chance to cash in on the free-agent market. 

Are you surprised by how high Kepler ranks in the Twins' history? Which record is most likely to fall? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

 

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[RpR]

Every one knows he should have been DFA and some wonder rookie taken his place!

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

The guy is a very good when not trying to pull everything and just hit the ball hard.  Since July of last year,  his BA is over .300.  For a hitter that has basically averaged below .240  that is eye catching.   Many have argued that the clock would strike midnight and he would revert back to his past 3-4 year statistics.  That doesn't appear to be the case.  I would love to get him at a decent extension price,  but if he continues this he is effectively a lock to get the qualifying offer.  

[Shaitan]

It takes talent to stick around as a starter in MLB. Kepler has that.

Though I would call it a longshot and not a "near-lock" to make the Twins HOF. Unless he has a great October/November this year :)

[IndianaTwin]

Among players born in Germany, he's also first in home runs (155, more than No. 2 Mike Blowers' 78 and No. 3 Glenn Hubbard's 70 combined) and RBIs (478, Hubbard 448). He's also atop the career bWAR list at 20.54, ahead of Hubbard's 19.15 and 19th-century pitcher Pretzels Getzien's 18.04.

 He's also third in hits (822, following Hubbard's 1084 and Bill Kuehne's 993), second in doubles (192, Hubbard 214), tied for third in steals (35, with Hubbard; Kuehne 150, Fritz Mollwitz 70) and second in walks (398, Hubbard 539). Aside from Will Ohman's eight plate appearances, his .756 OPS trails only Brendan Donovan's .763. Also first in strikeouts (720, Hubbard 640).

So a pretty convincing argument for being the best player ever who was born in Germany.

[IndianaTwin]

And oh, yeah. You may have heard this, but his parents were in the ballet! 🤣

[IndianaTwin]

Gardy's numbers have him well down the list in all categories.

Except in managing. He was 1200-1280. The other three, all pre-1929, were a combined 59-123. Apparently German engineering smarts didn't convert to baseball. 

[TwinsDr2021]

For a guy that most was already carving his tombstone what a resurgence. Good for him, the Twins and the fans.

On TV they keep saying he is doing better since he starting striking out more, to me it looks like he is doing better because he isn't trying to pull every ball over the fence and because of that is barrelling up the ball. Whatever it is Max keep doing what you are doing.

[Loops]

I have always liked Kepler. He can have his month slump, but then comes back and more than makes up for it. His defense is very good. He never has been the weak link on the Twins roster. There are many others I would try to replace before him. The only argument you can give is that he would have been one of the better trade pieces on our roster. He might have actually given us a return. But the Twins history of trades makes me happy he has stayed around. I will be sad to see him leave if it comes to that.

[wabene]

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

Pretzels Getzien

With mustard, ya.

Und beer

[Hawkeye Bean Counter]

50 minutes ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

For a guy that most was already carving his tombstone what a resurgence. Good for him, the Twins and the fans.

On TV they keep saying he is doing better since he starting striking out more, to me it looks like he is doing better because he isn't trying to pull every ball over the fence and because of that is barrelling up the ball. Whatever it is Max keep doing what you are doing.

9 of Keplers 22 hits this season, of which 3 were doubles were to left field.  When the defense continues to play an extremely heavy shift on you,  taking the pitches on the outside of the plate to the opposite field is become an easy hit for Kepler.   He is starting to realize that.  Then when teams start to play him more straight up,  watch the hits to right field explode.  

 

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

19th-century pitcher Pretzels Getzien

1800's baseball names really were something else. 

[IndianaTwin]

21 minutes ago, CCHOF5yearstoolate said:

1800's baseball names really were something else. 

Yeah, for some reason I've enjoyed tracking where Kepler's at on this list. It's not like I'm even close to being a German native, though like a lot of folks with a lot of Amish, German would probably show up a lot in my ancestry.com profile. 

Looking at it from time to time, it's one part, "Wow, that sounds amazing," one part, "Yeah, but there's been less than 50 players," and one part, "But it's still kinda cool."

But with good old Pretzels on the list, I always have to include him.

 

A different tidbit: Brendan Donovan is the only other German native to played this year. Unless someone else comes up or he hits some, another seven by Kepler and he will have one-third of all the homers hit by a German native.   

[wabene]

Interesting to see how close Kep is to Dozier in so many statistics. Puts him in better perspective for me. Kepler did it in 3930 plate appearances while Dozier had 4232 with the Twins.

[gil4]

One category he will have a tough time topping is the best baseball card for someone born in Germany

[bean5302]

5 hours ago, Shaitan said:

It takes talent to stick around as a starter in MLB. Kepler has that.

Though I would call it a longshot and not a "near-lock" to make the Twins HOF. Unless he has a great October/November this year :)

He's an absolute lock for Twins HoF. Any player who sticks with the team and is a regular player for 5 years is enshrined. Virtually a guarantee since the Twins have so very rarely actually held on to players more than 5 years throughout history. Once a player nears free agency, they've always been traded.

That's how guys like Cuddyer get added.

[minman1982]

How often has someone played for nine seasons with the Twins? I am not too surprised that he has worked his way up the leaderboards since it seems like anyone who has the talent to stick around is either traded or allowed to leave before or when they hit free agency. If you are around long enough, you are going to start putting up enough counting stats to move up the list. Also, at 31, Kepler may still have some productive seasons in front of him. 

[RpR]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

He's an absolute lock for Twins HoF. Any player who sticks with the team and is a regular player for 5 years is enshrined. Virtually a guarantee since the Twins have so very rarely actually held on to players more than 5 years throughout history. Once a player nears free agency, they've always been traded.

That's how guys like Cuddyer get added.

Youi can say that after free agency kicked in but in the sixties to early seventies, 8 years was about average for longevity.

[Dlee]

Hard not to like Kepler (well some others maybe not).  Even in his down times he is playing above average in the field, and a run saved is worth an out at the plate although frustrating.  

You have to think the club house and the front office really like this guy's personality and demeanor, being with the organization so long it will be hard not to see an offer, and with Kepler he probably would accept a lower level offer as he doesn't look for fame or exploitation, just play to his days ability the best he can and have a pretty decent pay check.

a job playing a sports game. 

[Road trip]

2 hours ago, minman1982 said:

How often has someone played for nine seasons with the Twins? I am not too surprised that he has worked his way up the leaderboards since it seems like anyone who has the talent to stick around is either traded or allowed to leave before or when they hit free agency. If you are around long enough, you are going to start putting up enough counting stats to move up the list. Also, at 31, Kepler may still have some productive seasons in front of him. 

Great question.  You inspired me to look it up:  Killebrew, Kaat, Mauer, Oliva, Hrbek, Alison, Pascual (counting some years in Washington), Bush, Carew, Guardado, Hunter, Perkins, Puckett, Radke, Aguilera, Blyleven, Cuddyer, Hocking, Morneau, Buxton, Gaetti, Gagne, Perry, Polanco, Reese, and Smalley all got to 10 years or more.  A couple of those names really surprised me.   The vast majority of these guys are in the Twins HOF.

[Met Stadium Usher]

Holy Pickles Dilhoefer! Pretzels Getzien is a great baseball name.
They should both be on the all-deli team.

 

 

[Doctor Wu]

8 hours ago, Road trip said:

Great question.  You inspired me to look it up:  Killebrew, Kaat, Mauer, Oliva, Hrbek, Alison, Pascual (counting some years in Washington), Bush, Carew, Guardado, Hunter, Perkins, Puckett, Radke, Aguilera, Blyleven, Cuddyer, Hocking, Morneau, Buxton, Gaetti, Gagne, Perry, Polanco, Reese, and Smalley all got to 10 years or more.  A couple of those names really surprised me.   The vast majority of these guys are in the Twins HOF.

I was thinking, what about Tim Laudner? But I checked and he only played 9 years, just missing his decade. 

[Doctor Wu]

It looks like Jim Perry played 10 seasons (maybe not all of them full seasons) with the Twins from 1962 to 1972. He won at least 20 games twice for the Twins, but of course he is perhaps best known for being the brother of spit-balling legend Gaylord Perry. 

[JD-TWINS]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

It looks like Jim Perry played 10 seasons (maybe not all of them full seasons) with the Twins from 1962 to 1972. He won at least 20 games twice for the Twins, but of course he is perhaps best known for being the brother of spit-balling legend Gaylord Perry. 

The 1970 Cy Young got him some notoriety as well!!

[LambchoP]

Do we have a team option on Kepler for next year, or is this for sure his final year of his contract?

[JD-TWINS]

Personally, not interested in Kepler being best player from Germany nor his place, at this point, in Twin’s record books. Cool to know but not a hot topic for me.

I am interested in the guy that is only one of 5 guys in 2nd half of ‘23 to hit .300 or better AND have 30 XBH. Kepler, Cory Seager & a couple other guys. Impressive!!

Interested in the guy that was 1-20 to start the season and the went on the IL, and since his return has hit .433!!!

The guy is only behind Juan Soto for best overall RF in the game at this point in ‘24. Hoping that he stays healthy!!! I realize the productivity has come over only 17 games but he sure looks locked in as he’s brought his BA up from .050 to .329 since his return……he’s got 2 HR off left handed pitchers…..he just looks like a complete offensive machine right now!

Does the pitch clock have him thinking less and just being aggressive? I don’t believe for a second that it is connected to this being a “walk year”. My impression is he’s about happiness most and $$ less…….. if he’s still above .280 BA in mid-June, it seems a two year deal for $17.5M/year should be an offer for consideration.

 

An aside - how about that Trevor Larnach over the same stretch of 17 games!!!

[RpR]

Larnach has regained the form he once had with the bat.

His future may be very positive.

[Riverbrian]

20 minutes ago, LambchoP said:

Do we have a team option on Kepler for next year, or is this for sure his final year of his contract?

Unless the Twins reach an agreement on an extension. 

Max Kepler will be a free agent this off-season.