Rookie Luke Keaschall continues to go all out, give Twins hope for future

The last time Luke Keaschall played a minor league game in center field is still brought up more than a year later.

Keaschall, then at Class AA Wichita, knew he had a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, which would require Tommy John surgery. He delayed the surgery until August, so he could play close to a full season while recovering in time for spring training.

Despite being told to take it easy on his arm, Keaschall caught a fly ball with a runner on third base during a game at Tulsa. Keaschall reared his arm back and fired as strong of a throw as he could to the plate.

It wasn’t a close play. The runner was safe on a routine sacrifice fly, and Keaschall felt much more pain in his elbow afterward, but there were no regrets. He played the next game at second base, then split his final 20 games between first base and designated hitter.

“You could just see him let it rip, and you were like, that doesn’t look quite right,” said Zebby Matthews, who played with Keaschall at Wichita.

As Twins players and coaches have learned in the first 42 games of Keaschall’s rookie season, that’s simply his personality. When he’s on the field, he plays at one speed.

“The guy just lives, eats, breathes, sleeps baseball,” Twins infielder Ryan Fitzgerald said. “That’s like all he does. I’ve asked him, ‘What do you really do away from the field?’ He’s like, ‘Dude, I just think about baseball.’ ”

What the Twins have learned about Keaschall over the past few months only reinforces the internal belief that he is a player they can build around. He can drive pitches to all fields with his compact swing. He maintains an aggressive approach, but he has one of the highest walk rates on the team.

“It’s not like he’s up there taking every spin pitch that he sees,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He’s that type of hitter who is looking to hit every pitch, but he can lay off the ones he doesn’t want. That means he’s actually identifying pitches, making pretty good decisions. It allows you to be a well-rounded hitter.”

The Twins are still evaluating Keaschall’s defense. He started only 54 games at second base before he was promoted to the major leagues. His range at the position has been fine, but he has committed six errors in 35 major league games.

He does have experience in the outfield, but the Twins want to see whether the 23-year-old can be their long-term second baseman.

“You just watch him, he works so hard every day and he’s so focused,” Matthews said. “He’s so competitive, and it comes to a certain point — I’ve seen him play for a while now — he just does stuff. It’s similar to [Byron] Buxton where he does stuff and you’re like, wow, only he could possibly do that.”

When the 31-year-old Fitzgerald suggested Keaschall was like a little brother to him, Keaschall started calling him “grandpa” because of their eight-year age difference.

“What’s really cool is when you do see him fail, he takes it like a pro,” Fitzgerald said. “The maturity level is off the charts. That’s what is honestly most impressive to me. I always say you never really know how someone is going to play until they’re punched in the face. It’s baseball. Everyone gets punched in the face at some point. To see him take a couple punches, he just rolls with them.”

As the Twins rebuild their roster, after missing the playoffs for the fourth time in the last five years, their next window to contend for division titles will be dependent on some of their young players like Keaschall developing into impact players.

Keaschall has played only a quarter of a big-league season, but it’s easy to see his potential.

“A lot of guys have the ability, but they don’t love it as much as he does,” Fitzgerald said. “You don’t always see that. A lot of guys that have the ability, they’re in it for the money or whatever. He couldn’t care less.