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Last Friday in the lunch room of the Twins academy in Ft. Myers, players were eating after their morning workout and before their afternoon games against the Rays. Standing in the middle of the room were a couple of guys speaking to each other in German. Niklas Rimmel, a right-handed pitcher from Berlin that the Twins signed following the 2017 season, was meeting his role model, fellow Berlin native and Twins outfielder Max Kepler. It was the first time that the two had met and the conversation lasted just ten to 15 minutes, but they will talk again before the Twins leave Ft. Myers to start their 2019 season. Rimmel is the most recent player that the Twins have signed from Germany. When the Twins signed Kepler out of Berlin in 2009, he received a $700,000 bonus, at the time the largest ever signed by a German-born player. Raw at the time, Kepler grew and continued to develop. He was the Twins (and Twins Daily’s) Minor League Player of the Year in 2015. He helped the Chattanooga Lookouts to a Southern League championship and the next day made his Major League debut. He wasn’t on the Twins Opening Day roster in 2016, but he was called up soon after and has been up ever since. In 2018, he was the Twins choice for the Jim Kaat Award, handed out at the Diamond Awards to the top defensive player on the team. He also hit 20 home runs in 2018. Early in spring training, Kepler and his first baseball roommate, Jorge Polanco, were signed to long-term contracts. Kepler, who was arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason, signed a five year, $35 million contract with a couple of option years. While the Twins and their fans look for him to really take a step forward in his production on the diamond starting in 2019, Kepler has already risen up the charts in terms of the top players born in Germany to play in the big leagues. Today, we will show where Kepler ranks among German-born players, what his signing has meant for baseball in Germany, and how Kepler is viewed by young baseball players in his home country.Max Kepler is already in the conversation of best German-born baseball players of all time. A quick glance at the leader board shows that he is clearly in the Top 5 players born in Germany to play in the big leagues. His 419 games played ranks eighth. His 1,633 plate appearances rank sixth. More rankings: Hits (337) - 6th2B (82) - 5thHR (56) - 3rd (22 home runs behind the leader, Mike Blowers)Runs (199) - 5thRBI (190) - 5thOn these lists, Kepler ranks behind the likes of:12-year big leaguer Glenn Hubbard who was born at Hahn Air Force Base11-year big leaguer Mike Blowers who was born in Wurzburg. His step-father was in the army.11-year big leaguer Jeff Baker who was born in Bad Kissinger. His father was Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army.10-year big leaguer Bill Kuehne whose family immigrated to the United States when he was very young, played in the 1880s.Other MLB players born in Germany in military families include: Ron Gardenhire, Craig Lefferts, Edwin Jackson, Will Ohman, Bruce Maxwell, and Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr. With his recently-signed five-year contract extension, it is likely that Kepler will distance himself from the pack and be the best player ever born in Germany. Of note, he wasn’t just born in Germany, but he lived there his full life and was signed in Germany. The others moved to the States, be it for military transfers or family immigration in the 1800s and early 1900s. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Niklas Rimmel is a big, tall, right-hander pitcher from Berlin who the Twins signed after the 2017 season. He made his professional debut in 2018 with 14 innings pitched in the Gulf Coast League. He is likely to begin his 2019 season there as well. Rimmel began speaking with scouts when he was 15 and playing in international tournaments in Europe. “Basically the only way you can be scouted or seen is at a European, international tournament,” he said. He had several options for teams interested in signing him. “The whole minor league system of the Twins is really, really good. I like the way that they handle the players. It’s really good that they believe in me and gave me the chance. I really appreciate that.” He continued, “Kepler being with the Twins was kind of part of it. He was my role model.” While baseball remains a secondary sport in Germany, behind the likes of soccer, among baseball people in Europe, Max Kepler is very highly regarded. Rimmel noted last week, “In Germany, Kepler is the biggest role model everybody has. That’s why it’s such a great honor to play in the same organization as him. I like having the opportunity to step in his footprints. In ‘Baseball Germany’, he’s a really big name there.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the help of the MLB's academies in Europe, players there do have some more opportunities to be signed than in the past. There are academies in Germany, Italy and The Netherlands. New ones pop up from time to time. As Rimmel noted, that is the main means of players being noticed by MLB scouts. While Kepler is a hero to kids who love and play baseball in Germany, soccer still easily remains the sport of choice. Twins Director of Player Personnel and former Director of Scouting Mike Radcliff noted, “Baseball has gained some footage in soccer-infatuated Europe. There are several academies where players are gaining important coaching and teaching in fundamentals.” Max Kepler came out of the academy in Regensburg, Germany. He told me that there is now one in Paderborn as well. Kepler sees things improving but notes that it still has a long ways to go. “It’s progressing, little by little, but I think they just lack the funds, and soccer and other sports are still the main focus. It hasn’t really progressed as much as I’d like to see. With time, maybe.” There was always value for the Twins, or potentially other organizations to sign the best players from countries where baseball was not as popular. The Twins have signed Vadim and Petr Balan from Moldova. Matej Hejma and Jakub Hatjmar signed from the Czech Republic. Hein Robb was from South Africa. Tom Stuifbergen signed from The Netherlands. Frederic Hanvi signed from France. Nik and Andrei Lobanov signed out of Russia. None of these players got to the big leagues. But the Twins name is known in each of those countries. The same can be said in Australia where the Twins have always been a top contender for the top talent. But even with the rise of Max Kepler to the big leagues, that alone can’t alter the thinking of a whole country. But again, in baseball circles, Kepler and the Twins are very popular. Radcliff remarked, “Not sure we expect exponential growth of baseball in Europe, but there are some initiatives and private resources that have spurred interest in recent history.” Kepler believes that baseball can continue to grow in Germany. It will take time, money and some work. “You need the interest in place when kids start playing at a young age. I can try to do some camps and clinics and such in the offseason and start gaining interest that way.” He has done it before in Berlin. He talked to some of his coaches and some of his former teammates. They sold out the camp with 100 kids. For those kids, and every kid who plays baseball in Germany, Max Kepler is the face of not only the Twins franchise, but of Major League Baseball right now. Click here to view the article

In the top of the ninth inning on Wednesday afternoon in Detroit, Max Kepler hit his tenth home run of the season and of his brief major league career. It gave the Twins a 2-1 lead and they went on to their tenth win in fifteen games. Max Kepler has been one of the most productive hitters in baseball over the last four-to-six weeks. While his batting average remains just shy of .230, he has taken good at-bats, shown a lot of power (nine homers in the past 30 games) and driven in as many runs as anyone in baseball. Kepler was our choice for Twins Daily Minor League Hitter of the Year in 2015. It was a breakout season of sorts for the German outfielder. He made his debut in the big leagues late last September after leading the Chattanooga Lookouts to the Southern League championship following being named the league’s MVP.He became a huge prospect nationally. Now, he has too many at-bats to still be called a prospect. Through Wednesday’s game, Kepler has ten home runs in 196 major league plate appearances. He has quickly climbed the prospect ladder as he worked his way toward the big leagues. Now in the big leagues, he is climbing the list of top rookies in the American League, arguably behind only Detroit’s Michael Fullmer if Rookie of the Year voting were done today. Der Schlager (The Slugger) is also climbing the statistical leaderboard for German-born major league players. According to Baseball-Reference.com, there have been 43 big leaguers who were born in Germany. As of today, Kepler ranks 14th in plate appearances. His ten home runs are already fifth on the list. A brief look at the players born in Germany who have more plate appearances than him tells even more about the unique story of Max Kepler. When the Twins signed him for about three-quarters of a million dollars, it was the highest bonus ever given to a player from the country, or anywhere in Europe. Assuming health, Kepler will most likely set all of the records for players from Germany. Glenn Hubbard - Those of us old enough to remember when most Atlanta games were on TBS in the ‘80s remember the long-time second baseman fondly. He is the current leader in plate appearances with 5,122 over 12 seasons in the big leagues. He was born in Germany, the son of a father who was in the United States Air Force. He moved to the States when he was very young and went to school in California and Utah. Bill Kuehne - Born in the German Confederation city of Leipzig in the mid-1800s, Kuehne accumulated 4,423 plate appearances over his ten year career. He grew up in Chicago. Mike Blowers - Blowers was a power-hitter, mostly playing for the Mariners, during the years that Ken Griffey, Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner played in Seattle. He had 2,585 plate appearances over 11 big league seasons. Born in Wurzburg, he was the son of a US army dad and moved to the United States at a very young age. Jeff Baker - Baker spent parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues. He accumulated 1,958 plate appearances between 2005 and 2015 as a utility player (primarily). He also was born to a military family, his dad being in the Army. Fritz Mollwitz - A Coburg native, Mollwitz played in the big leagues between 1913 and 1919. He had 1,909 plate appearances. Charlie “Pretzel” Getzien - Getzien became the first MLB player from Germany when he debuted in 1884. A pitcher, there are multiple stories on how he earned the Pretzel nickname. Maybe it was based on his country of origin. Some believed it was because of his curveball, which people say curved at least twice, like a pretzel. He came to the plate 1,140 times over his nine big league seasons. Ben Koehler - Born in Schoerndorn, Koehler had 804 plate appearances in just two big league seasons. He played major league baseball in 1905 and 1906. Ron Gardenhire - The long-time Twins manager and coach was born in Butzbach, West Germany. He is the son of a Army man. He moved to the States as a very young child. He came to the plate 777 times between 1981 and 1985. Dutch Schliebner - The Berlin native spent just one season in the big leagues, 1923. He batted 587 times that year but never got another opportunity. Marty Krug - He played in 20 games for the Red Sox in 1912 and then got into 127 games for the Cubs in 1922. He accumulated a total of 571 plate appearances. Born in Koblenz, he left Germany when he was three years old. Heinz Becker - Between 1943 and 1947, Becker spent parts of four seasons in the big leagues. He had 412 plate appearances in MLB. He was born in Berlin but his family left Germany following World War I. They went to Venezuela before moving to the United States. He was the only player from Germany during World War II. Edwin Jackson - Jackson was recently called up to the big leagues again. He has spent parts of 14 seasons in the big leagues, starting in 2003. He has accumulated 412 career plate appearances. Next in line is Max Kepler, just shy of 200 plate appearances. Let’s guess, and hope, that Kepler stays healthy and productive the rest of 2016 and through 2017. He could reach 1,000 plate appearances by the end of 2017 which would rank eighth on this list. As far as the home run list, Kepler already ranks tenth, though it’ll take him a few years to climb the list. Bill Kuehne (25), Jeff Baker (54), Glenn Hubbard (70) and Mike Blowers (78) are the four German-born players ahead of Kepler on the list. So what we see from the list of players born in Germany, they fit into a couple of categories. Players born in Germany before World War 1.Players whose family left Germany when they were young.Players born to military families who were based in Germany for their birth.In some cases, players fit into a couple of these categories. Kepler is unique in many ways, but he is certainly one of the first in nearly a century to be raised in Germany. Though his mother is from the United States and he visited family in Texas on vacations, Kepler grew up in Berlin. When he signed, his only real baseball experience came in Germany. Kepler signed in July of 2009, the same day the Twins signed Jorge Polanco. Miguel Sano was signed in October of the same year. That’s an impressive class filled with a lot of potential. Kepler has the potential to be the greatest player ever born in Germany. He may already be the greatest player who ever grew up in Germany. And he is the first player from Germany ever to grace the cover of the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook.. Click here to view the article