Position | Outfield
Bats/Throws | Left/Left
Born | February 10, 1993 (Stuttgart, Germany)
School | South Fort Myers High School
Height | 6'4''
Weight | 200 lbs.
2009 Ranking| Not Ranked
Breakdown
The Twins signed Max Kepler-Rozycki on July 3rd, 2009 out of Germany for $775,000. At just 16-years-old, Kepler-Rozycki is widely considered the best prospect to ever come out of Europe. Last summer, one scout said that Kepler was, "the toolsiest kid we've ever had in Europe, no question." Last week, Baseball America released its annual Top 10 Prospects for the Minnesota Twins organization. The list included Kepler-Rozycki as the 10th best prospect. In fact, he ranked higher than outfielders Rene Tosoni, Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee. I have no problem with that rank, however given the amount of information that we (I) have on Kepler-Rozycki and the fact that we have little to base it on, I can't justify ranking him higher. He certainly has a lot of potential, but Europe isn't a hotbed for baseball talent and I don't have a strong enough sense of how his numbers could transfer to the U.S. When dealing with prospects, say from the Dominican Republic or South America, it's easier to get a grasp on those players being as those regions produce a lot more baseball players. Nonetheless, Kepler-Rozycki has all five tools: hitting, running, power, throwing and fielding. He's drawn comparisons to former Major League outfielder Shawn Green for his smooth swing and skill set. He'll spend the entire 2010 season and perhaps the 2011 season in Ft. Myers. Don't forget, he'll be 17-years-old in February and still hasn't graduated High School. Although a lot of attention will be on Kepler-Rozycki this season. We'll see how he handles his first season of professional baseball in the states. He has a lot of potential and could fly up the prospect rankings next season.
2009 Statistics
Level G PA AVG OBP SLG XBH HR FLD%Germany 29 121 .444 .512 .646 15 1 .980
2010 Outlook
Kepler-Rozycki will begin the 2010 season in Extended Spring Training before latching on with the Gulf Coast League Twins in June. He'll spend the entire season there.
Video
Estimated Time of Arrival
2016
1 comments:
Today Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune tweets this:
"Best looking position player prospect I've seen in Florida? Max Kepler, the 17-yr-old German OF with the Twins. Looks like a young Mantle."
High praise indeed.
Post a Comment