PT TOMORROW: AL Central—Kepler reaching the stars

Minnesota Twins

In the July 11 Minneapolis Star Tribune, author Michael Rand made an interesting case for the Twins to give Joe Mauer (1B, MIN) a few days off each week. This could let the young guns have more PT and improve Mauer's own plate results. Rand reasonably noted Mauer's $23M per year salary thru 2018 will keep him from being completely benched, but have the kids on the club earned their opportunities?

Sliding into a full-time gig June 1, Max Kepler (OF/1B, MIN; pictured above) has made significant contributions to the offense, cracking eight HR and driving home 33 in 131 AB. His batting average during the period is a bit low at .244, but it's on a 26% h%, 75% ct% and 10% bb%. Overall, his xBA is a more respectable .275. On...

Almost!

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