1-On-1 With Twins' Max Kepler
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Twins are on a four-game losing skid after a very good July.
If there is one young prospect that has captured the curiosity, it is Max Kepler.
RELATED: Twins Blog: Could Max Kepler Be AL Rookie Of The Year?
Born in Germany to ballet dancers, he is now making his own name in a big way in Major League Baseball.
Kepler sat down with WCCO's Mike Max recently for a one-on-one interview at Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.
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Mike Max: What does Target Field mean to you when you get to the ballpark? How does it feel when you get here every day?
Max Kepler: It's awesome, you know. I'm excited every day to get here and put in, you know, 100-percent effort and work every day. And hopefully get the "W" at the end of the day, and you know, just have loads of fun with the team.
Max: How do you explain your sudden success, being able to come up here and play at this level this well?
Kepler: I'm still adjusting, you know, making adjustments every day. Pitchers are pitching me differently now and I'm having to adjust to that. But the main thing I'm trying to work on right now is mentally, you know, just sticking with the same mindset I have been the last couple weeks. And no matter what I do or what my result is out there, if I fail, you know, go 0-4, I'm going to try and, you know, go out there with the same mindset the next day and give it my all and just help the team out, you know, in which ever way possible.
Max: The three homerun night, I'm sure it was a dream come true. Explain it.
Kepler: It was a blur, but yeah, I still look back at the highlights and really enjoying watching them, and I probably will till I'm an old man, because you know that was something I never thought I would achieve. Almost impossible to me. But yeah, it's definitely going to be a memory for a very, very long time, and I'm still pretty astonished by, yeah …
Max: Surreal, huh?
Kepler: Yeah, surreal to me that I achieved something like that.
Max: We hear about ballet and dancing in your family. Did ballet help you become a better baseball player?
Kepler: At a young age, you know, I didn't really appreciate it much, no. You're a kid, and you want to be, you know, out in the field playing soccer with the other kids. But I was backstage watching them with my sister a lot. And as I grew up I started to admire, you know, how much work they go through and how many injuries they have to deal with and still go out there and perform, you know, on those injuries just for, you know, all the entertainment of the people watching. And no matter how many mistakes they did onstage during the performance going on, they kept going and nothing stopped them. So I kind of try and translate that into baseball, you know. No matter what happens out there you have to keep going, you know, until your time's up.
Max: Inside the organization, somebody told me you're just a gifted athlete. Do you feel like that? Do you feel you're a gifted athlete?
Kepler: Well, I guess I have to thank my parent for, you know, putting me in all kinds of sports at a young age. You know, I played tennis, some basketball and soccer …
Max: You just love competing?
Kepler: Yeah, yeah, which all works on, you know, hand-eye coordination. And yeah, they always reminded me how to stretch and perform and prepare for all these sports and stuff. So they obviously knew what they were doing, and, you know, what they wanted me to get into. So, yeah, I have to thank them for that.
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The Twins play the Kansas City Royals Saturday evening at Target Field.
