New Philadelphia Phillies Star Flashes Potential Impact in Spring Debut

Outfielder Max Kepler was the most notable hitter the Philadelphia Phillies acquired this offseason, and he showed what he can bring in his spring training debut.

Feb 22, 2025; Lakeland, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler (17) watches a fly ball during the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. | Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies did not make any earth-shattering moves over the offseason, but they did significantly raise their ceiling by adding Jesus Luzardo to an already stacked starting rotation in a trade with the Miami Marlins.

While the Luzardo deal was the biggest headline-grabber in Philadelphia's offseason, the team could derive just as much benefit from its biggest offensive move, the signing of Minnesota Twins lifer Max Kepler.

Kepler, a 32-year-old left-handed corner outfielder with over 1,000 MLB games under his belt, might feel redundant in a Philadelphia lineup that already features prominent lefties like Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, along with supporting cast pieces like Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh.

But by adding Kepler, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doubled down on one of his team's advantages by making a strength even stronger, and the Phillies now look like even more of a nightmare for opposing right-handed starting pitchers.

Kepler made his first appearance with his new team in spring training on Saturday, and he did not take long to show what he can bring to this lineup. In the third inning while facing Packy Naughton of the Detroit Tigers, Kepler smoked a ground ball up the middle at an exit velocity of 104.1 miles per hour for an RBI single that extended Philadelphia's lead to 3-0.

Kepler also reached base on a walk later on and came around to score when bench spot candidate Buddy Kennedy hit a home run.

The plate discipline Kepler showed on that walk, albeit just one walk in spring training, exemplifies the value that he could provide to this Phillies team come October.

Philadelphia has performed fairly well over the course of the last three postseasons, though they've fallen increasingly shorter of winning it all since losing in the 2022 World Series, dropping the NLCS in 2023 and bowing out in the NLDS in 2024.

In these three postseason runs, the Phillies have struck out at clips of 27.2%, 25.2% and 25.5% respectively. Last year, that number was the second worst out of the eight playoff teams that advanced past the Wild Card round.

This propensity to strike out in big spots has become an ongoing problem when the Phillies begin to get exposed a little bit against the elite pitching on display every postseason, but in Kepler, they added another bat who does well at avoiding the empty at-bats that strikeouts guarantee.

Kepler's career strikeout rate is just 18.6%, though he's regressed a bit the last couple of seasons as he's aged, with his clip rising to 20.1% last year. That's still over two percentage points better than the Phillies team rate next year, and his ability to put the ball in play in key spots will make the Philadelphia lineup deeper and tougher to navigate, even if he is not the consistent power threat that he used to be.