The Philadelphia Phillies have signed outfielder Max Kepler to a one-year contract worth $10 million. Kepler, a 32-year-old veteran, is coming off an injury-plagued season with the Minnesota Twins.
The Phillies agreed to a one-year contract with outfielder Max Kepler , league sources said Thursday night. The deal is worth $10 million and is pending the completion of a physical. Kepler, who turns 32 in February, is coming off an injury-marred season with the Twins in which he posted full-season career-lows in home runs (eight) and OPS+ (91). He’s also a left-handed hitter and has never played left field in 10 major-league seasons.
It’s possible that the Phillies signed Kepler to set up another move. It’s also likely that Kepler, an above-average defender in right field throughout a career spent entirely with the Minnesota Twins, can handle playing left, especially in Citizens Bank Park.from right field to left. Over the last five seasons, Kepler ranks fifth among all right fielders with 23 defensive runs saved. Kepler does possess a trait as a hitter that the Phillies are seeking: strike-zone discipline. He has swung at 25.3% of pitches out of the zone in his career, better than league average (28.5%) and the Phillies’ mark last season (30.3%). For a lineup filled with aggressive hitters who are often attacked with pitches out of the zone, that isn’t insignificant. Otherwise, Kepler hasn’t come close to approximating his career-best 2019 season, when he bashed 36 homers and posted an .855 OPS. Since then, he has topped 20 homers and an .800 OPS only once, both in 2023. Last season, Kepler was limited to 105 games by patellar tendinitis in his left knee and a related issue with his hip. He batted .253, reached base at a .302 clip, and notched a .682 OPS. “It’s not the way I’d like to go out as a Twin, but then again, happens,” Kepler told reporters in September
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