The Minnesota Twins have placed outfielder Max Kepler on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 5), with outfielder Matt Wallner called up from Triple-A to take Kepler’s spot on the active roster. Kepler is suffering from right patellar tendinitis and hasn’t played in any of Minnesota’s last three games after being forced out of Monday’s contest while running the bases.
It’s a disappointing setback for Kepler, especially after a big spring training raised some expectations that a nice season could be on the horizon. Kepler hit only .219/.312/.382 over 936 plate appearances (96 wRC+) in 2021-22, but with the new rules limiting defensive shifts, there was a sense that Kepler’s extreme pull-hitting tendencies might result in more batted balls becoming hits rather than outs. Obviously, there’s still plenty of time left in the 2023 season for Kepler to produce, but he’ll first have to get his knee back to full health.
There is some added incentive for Kepler since 2023 is the last guaranteed season of the five-year, $35M extension he signed with Minnesota prior to the 2019 season. Kepler is earning $8.5M this season and the Twins hold a $1M buyout of a $10M club option on the outfielder’s services for 2024. Since the Twins discussed Kepler in trade talks this offseason and the team has a number of young outfielders on the way up, it might take a real offensive breakout for Kepler to keep himself in the Twins’ plans going forward.
Wallner is one of those other outfielders looking for a shot at the MLB level, and the 25-year-old made his big league debut with 18 games for Minnesota last season. The 39th overall pick of the 2019 draft, Wallner is something of a classic three-true-outcomes slugger, with lots of power (51 homers, .511 slugging percentage), strikeouts (30.32 K%), and free passes (12.75% walk rate) over his 1184 career PA in the minors.
Heading into spring training with an apparent surplus of outfield talent, the Twins now have Kepler, Alex Kirilloff, and Gilberto Celestino all on the IL, and Byron Buxton has been limited to DH duty while the club has been easing him back into action after knee surgery. Joey Gallo also left Friday’s game due to soreness in his right side, though manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman) that Gallo is just day-to-day, as “[MRI] results were something we were hoping for.” Michael A. Taylor will remain the starting center fielder with Trevor Larnach in everyday duty in one of the other corner spots, and the Twins will now turn to Wallner, Willie Castro, or Nick Gordon to fill in for Kepler.
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