Kepler can fuck off

[A Kickass Offense]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

[RubeTube]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

Straight garbage!! Another Kubel type.

[Small Hands]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

He's been a huge disappointment. I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He still can become an above avg corner OF.

[RALPH MALPH]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

Straight garbage!! Another Kubel type.

he's not close to Kubel, and i wasn't a fan of Kubes.

[weimy froob]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

He's been a huge disappointment. I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He still can become an above avg corner OF.

huge disappointment. he needs to figure it out. a beautiful swing that must have some big holes in it.

[beetlebum71]

What's funny is that Kepler's numbers show that he's a more mature hitter than he's been in the past. His walk rate is up, K rate is down, balls in play rate is up, he's hitting fewer balls on the ground than before, his LD% is about the same as it's ever been, and % of hits going for extra bases is higher than ever, although still in the same ballpark. All those numbers should indicate that he's growing more productive as a hitter, not less. However, his .240 BABIP is dragging him way down, and is probably pretty good evidence of KAO was saying about hard contact being rare.

Even weirder is that his righty/lefty splits have completely flip flopped. Last year, Kep kept himself afloat by hitting righties well. .828 OPS against RHP, which is well above average. Against lefties, he sucked. .453 OPS, which made him essentially an NL pitcher against southpaws. This year, however, he's absolutely mashing lefties at a clip of a .909 OPS. In about 40% as many AB's as he has against RHP, he's hit more HR's and more RBI's. Against RHP, however, he's taken a dive. .595 OPS, .308 SLG%, and a .218 BABIP. His only saving race is that he's walking more, but even a BB% north of 10% only has his OBP against RHP at .286.

Something is happening when he's facing RHP. I personally think he's really struggling against soft stuff. RH'ers are throwing changeups down and away and breaking balls on his back foot, and he's taking the bait. He's hitting lots of popups to LF and rolling it over to 2B when he should be trying to drive the ball. It's a weird situation for a guy we'd seen hit screaming rockets all over the field last season to all of a sudden be hitting lazy FB's and slow rollers at the rate in which he is.

The good news from my prospective is that he's still playing an excellent RF, a more than passable CF, and is showing good pitch recognition and a discerning eye at the plate. The hope would be that there's something mechanical against righties that's holding him back, or maybe he's just dealing with a stretch of bad luck. He's still young, and this team sucks, so there's plenty of time to give him to figure it out. Hopefully he does soon.

[weimy froob]

What's funny is that Kepler's numbers show that he's a more mature hitter than he's been in the past. His walk rate is up, K rate is down, balls in play rate is up, he's hitting fewer balls on the ground than before, his LD% is about the same as it's ever been, and % of hits going for extra bases is higher than ever, although still in the same ballpark. All those numbers should indicate that he's growing more productive as a hitter, not less. However, his .240 BABIP is dragging him way down, and is probably pretty good evidence of KAO was saying about hard contact being rare.

Even weirder is that his righty/lefty splits have completely flip flopped. Last year, Kep kept himself afloat by hitting righties well. .828 OPS against RHP, which is well above average. Against lefties, he sucked. .453 OPS, which made him essentially an NL pitcher against southpaws. This year, however, he's absolutely mashing lefties at a clip of a .909 OPS. In about 40% as many AB's as he has against RHP, he's hit more HR's and more RBI's. Against RHP, however, he's taken a dive. .595 OPS, .308 SLG%, and a .218 BABIP. His only saving race is that he's walking more, but even a BB% north of 10% only has his OBP against RHP at .286.

Something is happening when he's facing RHP. I personally think he's really struggling against soft stuff. RH'ers are throwing changeups down and away and breaking balls on his back foot, and he's taking the bait. He's hitting lots of popups to LF and rolling it over to 2B when he should be trying to drive the ball. It's a weird situation for a guy we'd seen hit screaming rockets all over the field last season to all of a sudden be hitting lazy FB's and slow rollers at the rate in which he is.

The good news from my prospective is that he's still playing an excellent RF, a more than passable CF, and is showing good pitch recognition and a discerning eye at the plate. The hope would be that there's something mechanical against righties that's holding him back, or maybe he's just dealing with a stretch of bad luck. He's still young, and this team sucks, so there's plenty of time to give him to figure it out. Hopefully he does soon.

righthanders have figured out how to get him out. i heard one of his teammates say that the success he was having against leftys was a testament to how hard he worked. i took that as he has a real good work ethic-but something isn't adding up here.

[weimy froob]

kepler 2-4 last night. it's a potential start to turning his season around. bringing the heat on twinschat might be what he needed to light a fire under him.

[Sidewinder2k2]

What's funny is that Kepler's numbers show that he's a more mature hitter than he's been in the past. His walk rate is up, K rate is down, balls in play rate is up, he's hitting fewer balls on the ground than before, his LD% is about the same as it's ever been, and % of hits going for extra bases is higher than ever, although still in the same ballpark. All those numbers should indicate that he's growing more productive as a hitter, not less. However, his .240 BABIP is dragging him way down, and is probably pretty good evidence of KAO was saying about hard contact being rare.

Even weirder is that his righty/lefty splits have completely flip flopped. Last year, Kep kept himself afloat by hitting righties well. .828 OPS against RHP, which is well above average. Against lefties, he sucked. .453 OPS, which made him essentially an NL pitcher against southpaws. This year, however, he's absolutely mashing lefties at a clip of a .909 OPS. In about 40% as many AB's as he has against RHP, he's hit more HR's and more RBI's. Against RHP, however, he's taken a dive. .595 OPS, .308 SLG%, and a .218 BABIP. His only saving race is that he's walking more, but even a BB% north of 10% only has his OBP against RHP at .286.

Something is happening when he's facing RHP. I personally think he's really struggling against soft stuff. RH'ers are throwing changeups down and away and breaking balls on his back foot, and he's taking the bait. He's hitting lots of popups to LF and rolling it over to 2B when he should be trying to drive the ball. It's a weird situation for a guy we'd seen hit screaming rockets all over the field last season to all of a sudden be hitting lazy FB's and slow rollers at the rate in which he is.

The good news from my prospective is that he's still playing an excellent RF, a more than passable CF, and is showing good pitch recognition and a discerning eye at the plate. The hope would be that there's something mechanical against righties that's holding him back, or maybe he's just dealing with a stretch of bad luck. He's still young, and this team sucks, so there's plenty of time to give him to figure it out. Hopefully he does soon.

Fantastic breakdown!

I can't put my finger on his problem either. He should be clobbering righties and he isn't. His swing always reminded me of Morneau, but even at his worst Justin never struggled this badly.

As far as the Kubel comparison goes, I would hate for him to turn out to be that kind of hitter, but he's not even at that level now and has to get it together.

Kubel was a slick athlete that got hurt in the minors and turned into a fat guy slugger. He never was as good defensively as Max is though. If Max was as good at the plate as he is in the field, we'd be set at RF for 10 years.

[weimy froob]

kepler put another good swing on that home run. it's at-bats like that that make you keep the hope that he can become an all-star type outfielder some day.

[Cripes]

Kepler gets hot for 2 weeks. Then goes cold for 2 months. Rinse and repeat.

[weimy froob]

Kepler gets hot for 2 weeks. Then goes cold for 2 months. Rinse and repeat.

that has been the cycle.

[Da Gas Man]

anyone know if he is a descendant of Johannes Kepler?

[beetlebum71]

Kepler has been hotter than Tabasco-flavored piss since the start of this thread. KAO needs to start one for Buxton, one for Sano, one for Dozier, one for Mauer, one for Morrison, and then we might have something.

[flexbuffchest]

Kepler has been hotter than Tabasco-flavored piss since the start of this thread. KAO needs to start one for Buxton, one for Sano, one for Dozier, one for Mauer, one for Morrison, and then we might have something.

That's usually how these threads go.

[A Kickass Offense]

Kepler has 1 hit through 5 games so far on the road trip.

[RALPH MALPH]

i don't get why this guy gets such a long leash. he's had 3 years to show what he can do

[Small Hands]

This team is so Jekyl and Hyde. Last season they had all the promise in the world. Now, I'm struggling to find a future plan. Outside of J.O. Berrios and Rosario, I don't see any real upside here.

Kepler actually is better statistically the a year ago. His .744 ops is a career best. Not great, but he's good enough to have a roster spot

Sano baffles me. He was my favorite player a little over a year ago. Now, I feel like he's completely diseased.

Buxton can't stay healthy and can't hit a breaking ball to save his life.

Gibsonsy is turning back into the REAL Gibsonsy

The Bullpen is actually in worse shape then last season

Polanco is a cheater

Garbage,

[64DegreeWedge]

The team is going to be bad for a long long time I think.

[jakazz30]

i don't get why this guy gets such a long leash. he's had 3 years to show what he can do

This isn't the NBA or NFL...
it takes longer with most players..

I'm glad you didn't decide whether the Twins should keep J. Santana, Morneau, Hunter, etc...

[RubeTube]

He also has the "Look" that the Twins like to pitch. Nothing is more Twins than a guy like Mad Kepler.

[Thrillkill]

This freakin place. Betting more than a few of you had the same type thing to say about Rosario. Suddenly all of our young talent is shit? Might want to notice it was the vets this year that let us down.

[A Kickass Offense]

This freakin place. Betting more than a few of you had the same type thing to say about Rosario. Suddenly all of our young talent is shit? Might want to notice it was the vets this year that let us down.

He led the league in soft contact as recently as 5 weeks ago, and I very much doubt it is much better now.

That is not very encouraging, especially for a corner outfielder.

Making matters worse he can’t get right handed pitchers when that previously was not an issueHe may end up being a serviceable player but I think we’ve seen enough to probably establish that he won’t be a good one.

[jakazz30]

Do you guys value OPS as good stat?

I think it's pretty solid..

For Twins that have been here the full season....
He's 2nd behind Rosario.

[Hornets]

SO many haters here.....

[weimy froob]

he's got a nice swing though. you saw it again last night in the 8th.

[HappyHigh]

He's almost as much of a flop as the Bust Brothers.

According to Phil Mackey he also leads the league in soft contact. Not what I look for in a corner outfielder.

I totally agree with you.

[beetlebum71]

Kepler has made progress this season. I know it doesn't show in his batting average, which is what a lot of rubes concern themselves with, but his overall production has improved. More walks, better strikeout rate, more power, even better defensively (even with him playing a ton in CF), and he's already surpassed his career best in WAR by a fair amount with 5 weeks left in the season. More consistency would be great, but this guy knows how to play. I'm no longer worried about him. He might not be a perennial AS or anything like that, but he'll be a solid big leaguer for a while to come.

[Jimtown guy]

Every time I see this it cracks me up. With that said Kepler is improving. Slowly but surely.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/07/twins- ... oronto-mlb

[tbgh]

SO many haters here.....

I agree, Gus. It's pretty sad!