It’s been awhile, but Max Kepler is happy to be the new guy, this time with the Phillies

CLEARWATER, Fla. — It’s been a long time since Max Kepler was “the new guy.”

But when the 32-year-old outfielder walked into the Phillies clubhouse at BayCare Ballpark for the first time this spring, that’s exactly what he was. Kepler had spent his entire career with the Twins organization, signing with Minnesota as a 16-year-old from Berlin, Germany, before coming to the Phillies on a one-year deal in December.

“Other than when I first signed with the Twins in ’09, it’s the first time I really had to do this,” Kepler said on Thursday. “But I love stepping out of my comfort zone, challenging myself and getting to know all the guys in here. I haven’t come across one bad apple, and everyone’s really open and welcoming.”

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Luckily, Kepler is already finding allies within the outfield.

“[Brandon Marsh] is just that guy,” Kepler said. “I think that he’s very easy to talk to, and is always trying to talk to you. And that’s nice to have in a clubhouse of guys that you don’t know many.”

He also got a head start on forming a relationship with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long, who he began working with over the offseason after signing with the Phillies. A now-healthy Kepler is looking to rebound from 2024, when a hip and knee injury dampened some of his power. The lefty slashed .253/.302/.380 in 105 games with a career-low eight homers, and he ended up sitting out the final month of the season. In October, he underwent surgery to repair a partially detached abdominal muscle.

The main focus for Long and Kepler has been engaging and opening up his legs, as well as a slight adjustment to the angle of his bat. Kepler used to hold his bat head straight up in his batting stance, but is now trying to tip it back toward the dugout to give it a more direct path to the strike zone.

In the controlled environment of camp, Kepler thinks he’s already seeing payoff.

“In the [live at-bats] we’ve had in the last couple days, I’ve been hitting the ball hard,” he said. “You can be a little nit picky about angles and launch angles and where the ball is going in the field, but just from squaring balls up to the pull side, I have noticed that it’s a huge difference to when I first come into camps, and I’m fouling balls off into the third base dugout and late.

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“I already noticed that with the adjustments, I have way more time, and a lot of room to play with the bat head. So it’s making sense.”

One positive from Kepler’s 2024 season was improved splits against left-handed pitching. Kepler hit .273 against lefties last year, better than his career average of .243. He hasn’t pinpointed exactly what was behind the improvement but said he tends to see better numbers when he sees lefties on a regular basis.

He should get that opportunity with the Phillies, as they expect Kepler to be their everyday left fielder.

Kepler will be the new guy in that corner of the outfield, too. Over his 10 seasons with Minnesota, Kepler played 882 games in right field and 149 games at center, but hasn’t played a single major league inning in left.

“The ball is always, whether you’re in right or left, it’s always going to spin towards a line. So he’s got to adjust to that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But he’s a really good athlete. He’s fast. He moves well, so I don’t think it’ll be that big of an adjustment for him.”

Kepler said his last appearance there came as a minor leaguer.

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“It’s been interesting,” Kepler said. “But honestly, it’s just the same thing as right, just slices differently. You have more righties crushing balls, pulling them towards you, as opposed to the lefties.”

He will make his left field debut during the Phillies’ spring opener against the Tigers on Saturday in Lakeland, Fla. Kepler is scheduled to make the trip along with fellow regulars Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm.

The Phillies on Thursday announced the passing of Wilmer Reid, who was a scout for the organization in the Philadelphia region for 13 years. The West Philadelphia High School graduate played two seasons in the Negro Leagues before a scouting career with five organizations.