The teuton Max Kepler, outfielder for the Minnesota TwinsYou don’t know if he’s superstitious, but maybe he’s a bit stiff. The right fielder’s record doesn’t lie: in 2019, he was the player who started bringing a stuffed squirrel named Hebert to the clubhouse to pay tribute to the so-called “Squirrel Rally” that ran through Target Field during a game. And now, well, he attributes his recent success to banishing a chain that, in his words, had “bad juju.”
On the surface, removing a curse seems like three home runs in two games for Kepler, meaning that chain has probably seen its last light of day. Following a solo blast Sunday in Kansas City, Kepler smashed two more home runs in Monday’s 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox, raising his season OPS to a more robust .745 amid a largely harsh campaign:
That performance marked the 10th multi-homer game of German Kepler’s career, making him the 12th player with double-digit games and multiple home runs with the Twins.
With Minnesota reeling and will likely be sold before the next trade deadline of July 30, Kepler isn’t the only one who has turned things around in an effort to turn his fortunes around. Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda also wore high socks for the first time in his career on Sunday, and posted his best start of the season, with 10 strikeouts in six shutout innings.
Of course, that’s not the only reason Kepler has started to change its season. He’s been working his way to the top of the zone-top pitches he’s seen in this recent stretch, which involved a .147 / .275 / .265 line in nine June games, lowering his OPS seasonal at .688.
Having spent two stints on the disabled list this season with COVID-19 and a left hamstring strain, Kepler has also had to remind himself that he doesn’t need to try too hard to make up for lost time.
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But, with apologies to the jeweler friend who sells Kepler and a few of his teammates, it’s impossible to completely rule out the damn chain as a contributing factor. Kepler sure seems to believe that, anyway.
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