Not even a week has gone by in the 2024 MLB regular season and injury woes have already begun to plague the Minnesota Twins. The Twins may have won their Opening Day tussle against AL Central foe Kansas City Royals, 4-1, but it came at the cost of the health of right fielder Max Kepler, who had to exit that game at the top of the eighth inning after hitting a pitch foul off his knee.
While the good news is that Kepler did not sustain a fracture in his knee, avoiding an injury that would have sidelined him for months, it’s still not looking good for the Twins right fielder. Even though Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said that Kepler was “in the clear from a medical standpoint”, he still hasn’t overcome the pain to the point that he feels comfortable running, according to MLB.com.
To that end, it seems as though the Twins may have to put Max Kepler on the Injured List if he is still unable to play following their off-day today.
Given how early it is in the season, it is daft for the Twins to rush Kepler back if he does need a bit more time to heal. The baseball season is the epitome of a marathon, and there’s simply no point in sprinting early on and risking falling behind later in the race.
Max Kepler, an underrated (potential) loss
There is a legitimate possibility that the Twins place Max Kepler on the 10-day IL. After all, running is one of the most important parts of baseball, and if Kepler can’t run, then there’s no reason whatsoever for him to be on the field.
It’s not like the Twins don’t have some solid options to try and replace Kepler’s production in the event that he needs to miss more time. But Kepler’s consistency has made him a fixture of the Minnesota lineup for years.
Kepler has always had some solid pop, making him a force on the plate especially when he’s on a roll. Driven by his slugging, Kepler hasn’t posted a (non-COVID-shortened) season with worse than 2.0 WAR (via Fangraphs).
Twins’ right field outlook
With Max Kepler out of the their past two games, the Twins had to reshuffle the deck, putting Alex Kiriloff at left field while moving Matt Wallner to right. Kiriloff isn’t exactly a plus on the field, so Byron Buxton may have to work overtime to catch some fly balls in the outfield.
At the very least, Wallner appears to wield a very capable bat in the face of a potential absence for Kepler. Wallner, 26 years old, has played in only 97 big-league games thus far in his career, although his 76 games in the majors last season was a major success. He hit 14 home runs and drove in 41 runs last season while slashing an impressive .249/.370/.507 — which was good for a 1.9 WAR season in 254 plate appearances, per Fangraphs.
The Twins could always turn to Willi Castro as a solid hand in the outfield; last season, he put up 2.5 WAR in 409 plate appearances (125 games), while being very helpful on the basepaths and on the field as well. Given the options they have for the three outfield spots, there is literally no reason for them to put any pressure on Kepler in his recovery from a knee injury.
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