Week 9: Max Kepler

The Minnesota Twins won their last six games in a row and now have the best record in the MLB. They have a 10 game lead in the American League Central, and have a .692 win percentage compared to the .648 of team with the next best record, the Houston Astros. Leading the charge for the Twins last week was Max Kepler, their MVP at the plate. Kepler was not just the Twins' best batter; he was arguably the most valuable offensive player in baseball last week.

Kepler had 10 runs, 10 RBIs, a .571 average and 1.790 OPS. Those are some really big numbers. How big? Of all players last week, Kepler had the most runs and was tied with four other players for the most RBIs. 

Compared to players with 10 or more at bats, Kepler had the second best OPS and the third best best average. The two players with better averages, Justin Turner and Lourdes Gurriel Jr., had 15 and 10 at bats respectively. Kepler had 21.
The more at bats a player has, the more likely they are to regress to the mean which makes his third place extra impressive.

Kepler's best game of the week was on Friday, May 24. He had 3 hits, 2 runs, 4 RBIs,  and a home run that evening. Here are his highlights from that game:



A team doesn't get the highest run differential in the MLB through offense alone. The Twins defense has contributed to their +111 run differential (22 higher than the next team).

Kepler has done well in the outfield for Minnesota. He's not a super-star defensive player, but he does make some nice plays like this catch he made on Wednesday, May 22.



Due to his performance over the last few weeks, Kepler is suddenly on more people's radar. I would like to point out for the record, that we* here at MLBoyfriend recognized his star quality three years ago when he won the title as a rookie.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Max is one of the most, um, photogenic baseball players.

Congratulations, Max Kepler! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week. Whenever a Twins outfielder wins the prize, you better believe there will be at least one leaping celebration pic.

Previous MLBoyfriends Eddie Rosario and Byron Buxton
celebrate with Max Kepler.

UPDATE: MLBoyfriend is not alone in in being Max Kepler fans. MLB named Kepler the AL Player of the Week for the week ending 5/26, and Sports Illustrated said he is the "top trade target" for fantasy baseball.

* And by "we" I mean "me".