Kepler feeling at home with new club, new swing

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Max Kepler said last month he might be nervous stepping into the Phillies’ clubhouse at BayCare Ballpark for the first time.

He had spent his entire professional baseball career with the Twins before signing a one-year, $10 million contract with the Phillies in December. It meant new teammates, new coaches, new philosophies, new facilities and, perhaps unexpectedly, a slightly new swing.

“We made some minor adjustments that I'm still working on and committed to,” Kepler said.

Kepler, 32, showed those adjustments in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against the Tigers at Publix Field. He hit a bases-loaded single up the middle with two outs in the third inning to score two runs in the Phillies’ 7-6 loss to the Tigers. He walked and scored in the fifth.

“It felt good,” Kepler said. “I think, with more repetition, the ball will get bigger. Just having good quality at-bats is the key to the whole progression of things. I’ve got just to trust them, listen to them and stay committed to it, because there’s definitely some truth to it. It’s already translating to the game.”

Kepler spent a few days last month with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long, who lives in Arizona. Long suggested that Kepler get into his legs more, move closer to the plate and tip his bat.

“I used to have my bat head straight up, and we're just tipping it more back toward the dugout now,” Kepler said. “It's a more direct path to the zone, opposed to kind of having to gain ground. And if your bat’s [straight up], you kind of have to loop around, and you tend to get under it.

“So, coming here, it's just more level to enter the bat zone.”

Moving closer to the plate should allow Kepler to make pitches on the outside of the plate look like they're over the middle.

“I’ve made my bread and butter in baseball on the pull side,” Kepler said. “So, just finding my pull swing again, just driving the ball to the pull side and center. And if I catch a ball late -- deep in the zone -- I’ll go oppo.”

The Phillies hope the adjustments help Kepler return to form, allowing him to be their everyday left fielder. Kepler batted .253 with eight homers, 42 RBIs and a .682 OPS last season, which ended in September when he landed on the injured list with a left knee problem. A core surgery followed in October in Philadelphia.

He’s healthy again.

If Kepler is healthy, he believes he will return to form offensively. From 2019-23, he posted a .770 OPS and a 110 OPS+.

“You could tell he definitely did his homework in Arizona,” Kepler said about Long. “He was ready to work and ready to show me the drills that would cater to me and what would make me feel best, because I'm a feel guy. I don't really like to get into mechanics. There's a time and place for it, but he knew exactly what drills would make me feel what I needed to feel when we were there.

“I mean, in the live [batting practice sessions] we've had in the last couple days, I've been hitting the ball hard. You know, you can be a little nitpicky about angles and launch angles, and you know where the ball is going in the field, but just from squaring balls up to the pull side, I have noticed that it's a huge difference to when I first come into camps and I'm fouling balls off into the third-base dugout and late, you know? So I already noticed that, with the adjustments, I have way more time and a lot of room to play with the bat head. So, yeah, it's making sense.”

Kepler is also finding his way around Clearwater. He signed as an amateur free agent out of Germany in July 2009.

“Trying to put the right name to the right faces,” he said. “Other than when I first signed with the Twins in 2009, it’s the first time I've really had to do this. But I love stepping out of my comfort zone, challenging myself and getting to know all the guys in here. I mean, I haven't come across one bad apple, and everyone's really open and welcoming, so it's been a nice experience so far.”