Chad Allen

When you look at him, you wouldn’t realize that Max Kepler was a cold-blooded killer. Behind the laid-back, polite, innocent-looking demeanor is a 23 year old who is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of murdering Southern League pitching.

By now, most are familiar with Kepler’s intriguing backstory – a player signed as a teenager from the baseball boondocks of Berlin. His makeup and athleticism wowed Twins scouts to the point that they were willing to make him the highest paid European amateur signing, in spite of the fact that Kepler had played more soccer than he had baseball.

His lack of experience was apparent upon his introduction to a better pool of competition. “You watched him back in the Gulf Coast League and Cedar Rapids, he didn’t know what he was doing,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins Vice President of Player Personnel. “He had a great body and a great swing and he had tools. He had no idea.”

That was then. Now, Max Kepler is the reigning Southern League MVP. He essentially forced the Twins into giving him a September call-up. How did the 22-year-old suddenly flip the switch?

When the Minnesota Twins signed Max Kepler to a $800,000 bonus, the organization knew they had a project on their hands. The raw German-born player would have a longer development timeline than most transforming from the toolsy teenager to a polished prospect. Unlike his compatriots in the Western Hemisphere, Kepler lacked the reps and the game awareness that comes from playing against the pool of competition on this side of the globe as a youth. That shortcoming would be on display in his introduction to professional baseball.

If you watched Max Kepler this year or happened to have glanced at his stats in Double-A, however, you would have no idea that he came from a baseball-deficient part of the world. Does he have a chance to see playing time in Minnesota this season?

The last time the Minnesota Twins had a stretch of losing seasons like they are today happened in the late 1990s. From 1996 through 1999, the team lost more than 90 games each season. However, the Twins had a team in 1999 that played a lot of young players that would be part of the Twins turnaround last decade. One of those rookies was their starting left fielder, Chad Allen.

Today, Allen is in his second season as the hitting coach of the New Britain Rock Cats. Last month, I had the opportunity to chat with him about Kennys Vargas, but also about his time with the Twins and his transition into coaching.