PHILADELPHIA — “I’m good, I’m having fun, and I’m excited to see these guys every day,” Phillies outfielder Max Kepler told me Friday afternoon.
2025 has been turbulent for Max, to say the least, so how he is doing is important. Kepler is in the midst of his best offensive stretch of the season. With good results typically comes good feelings, but this season wasn’t always a joyous one for Kepler.
For the first time since signing with the Twins at age 16, Kepler joined a new organization this season. His one year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies was signed with him understanding he would be an every day player and could spend the year rebuilding his value for a longer contract in the future. Things don’t always go as planned.
After a solid first month in a Phillies uniform, things started to unravel a bit for Kepler. Johan Rojas was hitting well, Brandon Marsh and Weston Wilson both returned in the first week of May, and suddenly Philadelphia’s outfield was crowded.
Kepler’s adjustment to his new home
Max Kepler #26 of the Minnesota Twins watches a foul ball in the first inning during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Target Field on August 13, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)
Playing in a new place, learning a new organization’s ins-and-outs is not as easy as it seems. After months of below replacement level output, Kepler has started to turn things around. I asked him what’s different now versus the three-month stretch that was possibly the worst of his career.
“I think the main difference for me is not putting the pressure on myself that I did in the first half where I’m in a new organization, a new setting, new people around me, new relationships to build. That was the first time for me having to make that adjustment in 14 years.
That’s a sentiment that his manager, Rob Thomson, has shared recently as well. Thomson noted after Friday’s came that he thinks Kepler has finally “settled in.” He added “(Kepler’s) gotten over the trying to impress everybody, the new organization and the new teammates. That can spiral for a while and now he’s coming out of it, and he’s just relaxed. He’s going out and playing baseball.”
Sounds simple enough – go play baseball, it is what you are here to do. And yet, the human element of professional sports is something often overlooked when fans live and breathe with every pitch, like the ones in Philadelphia do. He may have been impacted by the fans, but not by the boos – the overall passion they bring to each and every game was something he wasn’t used to in Minnesota.
“Trying to be a guy that joins a really good team and then helping them, and the atmosphere that we play in daily is incredible. It comes with a lot of energy which can affect someone who hasn’t been used to that in the prior years, so that was an adjustment.”
Kepler’s explanation about struggling to get comfortable was mostly about joining a new clubhouse and trying to ingratiate himself with an organization that is tight-knit – from the players, to the coaches, to the clubhouse staff and beyond.
Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (L) and outfielder Max Kepler (R) high five after a victory against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park. Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
“I love the group that I’ve gotten to know,” Kepler explained. “For me, it’s when I’m comfortable then I can just focus on my work…and to just introduce yourself to so many personalities and characters was, I think, a slow process for me in the early going and I had trouble separating that from my work.”
Kepler’s hard work kept Thomson’s faith in him
That work never slowed. Going to the ballpark, you would see him take extra reps in the field and get early swings in the cage. Meanwhile, Kepler was regularly getting booed at home, with fans clamoring for him to be designated for assignment. Additionally, he’s now with an organization that has shown in recent years that they aren’t afraid to move on from a player on a one-year deal if they are under-performing. All that mixed could weigh further on a player who is already struggling adjusting to his new surroundings.
Rob Thomson regularly told reporters that he knows the work that Kepler is putting in, and he “trusts the back of the baseball card” – meaning he knows what Kepler has done in the past and has faith his production will return to that level.
It may not have been obvious looking at his stat page that he was ready for a breakout, but the underlying numbers painted a picture that supported the Phillies manager’s faith. From May 4 when his batting average peaked at .264, through August 4 when his average touched .200, Kepler’s slashline was a paltry .167/.267/.289 – worse than what Whit Merrifield‘s line was when he was unceremoniously designated for assignment in 2024.
If you were to look at Kepler’s Baseball Savant page, there was plenty of blue, but the red categories were all promising. Expected slugging percentage, hard hit rate, square-up rate, barrel rate – all signs of someone getting more unlucky and hitting balls hard, just right at fielders or hard into the ground. Thomson has preached patience, especially when it comes to veteran players.
After Wednesday’s win in which Kepler reached base four times for the first time this season, the manager told reporters about a conversation he had with Kepler a little after the second half, letting the outfielder know he still had faith in him. “You’re in a good spot. We believe in you,” Thomson told the media, recounting the conversation. “You’re gonna have a really good second half. Just keep grinding, keep working. It’s gonna be fine.”
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler (17) reacts with third base coach Dusty Wathan (62) while running the bases on his home run against the New York Mets during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
That faith is one of the things Kepler references as a way he was able to relax. “(The manager and organization) gained my respect,” he told me about what the confidence they showed in his ability did for him. “Even earlier in the year where I was struggling and I was surprised that I was still in the five-hole, the six-hole for as long as I got that opportunity. That just shows that they believe in me. My respect goes out to them as a coaching staff, as an organization. I can only say good things about them.”
Still, all the outside influence in the world won’t make a difference if you cannot get out of your own head. Self-doubt in athletes can lead to a spiral, and culture is important to helping players not go down that dark path. Kepler took a step back to recognize where he was not only in the game, but mentally as well.
“It was just a moment in time, kind of towards the end of the first half, where I was realizing that I cared so much that I wore myself out emotionally,” the veteran outfielder stated, recalling what started to shift things for him this year. “I got to a point where I was just like ‘screw everything’, you know. I’m just gonna go out there and not care as much and that worked out. It’s not like I was over my objective here as a player, but a lot of the time when you care too much you try to do too much… ‘less is more,’ ‘quality over quantity’ – that kind of was what stuck with me in my work.
Kepler added that he felt the energy he was investing into everything else around him started to drain him. He took the step back, leaned on the faith the manager showed in him and his new teammates, and got through it.
The journey of the 2025 season for Phillies fans, in respect to Max, will be a Jekyll and Hyde type of tale. A player who they wanted off the roster before the trade deadline, they suddenly cannot live without. For Kepler, this year is more about the emotional and mental journey he was taken on, and the growth he went through to be playing his best baseball at the most important time of the season.