Max Kepler hasn't exactly been the hitter that the Philadelphia Phillies imagined he'd be when they signed him in the offseason. The 10-year MLB veteran has had a roller coaster of a career on the field, and that has continued this season in Philly.
There have been flashes. But on the balance, he has been inconsistent, with his season looking like a microcosm of his career with the Minnesota Twins. He's slashing .210/.296/.380 with seven home runs and 24 RBIs in 62 games.
Kepler has had some highs and some lows during his time in the big leagues. His best offensive season came in 2019, when he slashed .252/.336/.519, hit 36 home runs, drove in 90 and scored 98 times. He accumulated 3.9 fWAR that year.
Unfortunately, many of his other seasons have been disrupted by injuries. In 2021, he hit 19 home runs but batted just .211 in 121 games. The following year, he hit .227 and managed just nine homers in 115 games.
In 2023, Kepler hit 24 long balls while hitting a healthy .260 in 130 games. Last season, he played in only 105 games, hitting .253 with eight home runs in 105 injury-hampered games.
Max Kepler is showing his inconsistency this season with the Phillies to dramatic effect
So, you can see the fluctuations he has head over the past few seasons. It’s something Phillies fans are experiencing this season, watching Kepler at the plate. Despite collecting three hits and a home run in his home debut, he started the season hitting .172 over his first 36 plate appearances. Not a great way to endear yourself to Phillies fans.
‼️ Das ist gut ‼️ pic.twitter.com/642G2Nen3D
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 31, 2025
Kepler picked things up from there. From April 9 to May 3, he slashed .299/.349/.519 with four home runs, five doubles and nine RBIs over 21 games, while striking out just 19.3 percent of the time. Then, over his next 12 games, he managed just three hits for a .079 batting average and a 27.3 percent strikeout rate.
He contributed to the team's nine-game winning streak in May, picking up five hits in 15 at-bats on the West Coast road trip, but fell into a swoon much like the rest of the lineup after that. From May 28 to June 9, Kepler managed just a .071 average with a 26.7 percent strikeout rate in 28 at-bats.
Here's a breakdown of Kepler's season and the wild fluctuations he has experienced in two and a half months:
BA | SLG | HR | K% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar. 27-Apr. 8 | .172 | .345 | 1 | 16.7% |
Apr. 9-May 3 | .299 | .519 | 4 | 19.3% |
May 4-May 17 | .079 | .105 | 0 | 27.3% |
May 18-May 27 | .333 | .667 | 1 | 20.0% |
May 28-Jun 9 | .071 | .071 | 0 | 26.7% |
The craziest part about all of this is that Kepler has the highest barrel rate of his career at 12.4 percent entering Friday's action. Pair that with a career-high 90.9 mph average exit velocity and a stellar 47.1 percent hard-hit rate, and he should be having more success. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to produce like his .427 xSLG predicts.
Kepler picked up a couple of hits in his two starts against the Chicago Cubs earlier this week. Will that lead to another run of success at the plate, or is it just an apparition that will vanish like a puff of smoke?