After not appearing at any of the three outfield positions in a major-league game until June 20, Luke Keaschall took his place in right field against the Arizona Diamondbacks that day, signaling Minnesota Twins decision-makers were preparing to move the poor-fielding former infielder off second base. Keaschall then made his first start in right against the Colorado Rockies on June 26, and has almost exclusively been an outfielder since.
The 23-year-old started nine games at the position before transitioning over to center field on July 8, one day after primary center fielder Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day IL with a right hip strain. Since then, Keaschall has started eight games in center field, functioning as the club’s primary center fielder during Buxton’s absence. Buxton will return to patrolling the position at a near full-time rate now that he's returned from the IL, and Keaschall is back in right field. He filled in admirably, however, netting 21 putouts over 70 innings played at the position, including the fantastic one below:
Admittedly, this ball did have a 65% catch probability. Any worthwhile center fielder would have caught it. Still, it was an exceptional catch for a player making their sixth start at one of the most demanding positions. He will then show how green a center fielder he is, missing balls that had a 99% catch probability, like the one below:
As he seeks a better balance between those extremes, one interesting thing to track (both in right field and in center) is how deep he's played since his move to the grass. He's tied with Matt McLain for the fifth-deepest starting position of all center fielders in baseball, typically positioned at 332 feet from home plate. For reference, Jose Caballero leads the league, positioning himself at 338 feet—and it's no coincidence that he, too, is a converted infielder.
To the extent that this is the team's plan, Minnesota is surely positioning Keaschall that deep because it is usually easier for center fielders to come in on balls than it is to run back. Due to him having so little playing time at the position, the Twins and Keaschall could be in agreement that giving him the opportunity to use his athleticism to run in on balls and avoid challenging angles is in the best interest of both club and player. Still, playing so deep is putting the club at a disadvantage, letting balls drop in front of him that result in bloop singles and/or hustle doubles—or something worse, like the catastrophic play that happened against Chicago this weekend:
Keaschall is a horrendous fielder. That’s why Minnesota was wise to finally move him off second base. Still, he should have been playing shallow enough to catch that ball, with Nico Hoerner’s batted ball resulting in the second out of the inning instead of a bases-clearing triple. On average, Byron Buxton starts at 320 feet, which is one of the shallowest starting points of all center fielders in the game. The Twins and Buxton trust his ability to get back on balls, allowing the veteran to often play shallow and to catch balls that Keaschall couldn’t get to. Ryan Kreidler, Austin Martin, Kody Clemens, James Outman (when he was a Twin), and even Kyler Fedko played noticeably shallower than Keaschall, too, proving Minnesota is making a concerted effort to start the 23-year-old that much closer to the center field wall.
Again, Keaschall is very athletic and has the range necessary to be an adequate backup center fielder, let alone a viable corner outfielder. The former second baseman has shown flashes of being an adequate outfielder who could play all three positions and serve as Buxton’s primary center field backup in the short-to-mid-term future. That said, Minnesota needs to take the training wheels off, as playing him so deep in center has been detrimental to him and the club. In right field, it''s the same story. He'll have to get comfortable a step shallower and be a step more aggressive in charging after balls if he wants to be less of a liability out there than he was on the dirt.
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