Just hours after winning the Southern League Finals with the Chattanooga Lookouts 22-year-old German outfielder/first baseman Max Kepler got called up to the big leagues by the Minnesota Twins. He is the second German player to receive the call after Donald Lutz debuted for the Cincinnati Reds in 2013. He already will be in uniform on Tuesday, wearing #67.
The Berlin native celebrated a breakout year in Double-A, which he capped with a Southern League MVP Award and by hitting three home runs in the postseason. Overall he batted .318/.410/.520 in 118 games this season. He was signed out of the Regensburg Baseball Academy in 2009 for a European record signing bonus 800,000 US Dollar.
Since two years Kepler has been on the 40-man roster of the Twins, making the call-up nearly automatically especially after his strong year in Double-A. As soon as he is playing in the big leagues he is going to be the third prospect from the MLB European Academy, which will make it to the MLB after Alex Liddi and Donald Lutz.