Kevin Kiermaier

Kevin James Kiermaier (born April 22, 1990) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays in Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Kiermaier was part of amateur championship teams at both the high school and college levels.

His high school won a state championship in Indiana, and his team earned a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship at Parkland College, where he was twice named an NJCAA All-American.

The Tampa Bay Rays selected Kiermaier in the 31st round of the 2010 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft.

Purdue again offered Kiermaier a scholarship, but he decided to sign with the Rays instead of transferring to Purdue.

Kiermaier made his MLB debut on September 30, 2013 – also game 163 of the regular season, and a wild-card tiebreaker game.

Kiermaier spent the 2013 season in Double–A and Triple–A, and was named the best defensive player in the Rays' organization and the Most Valuable Player of the Montgomery Biscuits of the Double–A Southern League.

With Montgomery, he played 97 games, batting .307 with five home runs and 28 RBI.

In Triple–A, he played 39 games with the Durham Bulls, batting .263 with a home run and 13 RBI.

Considering him the top defensive outfielder in their organization – including the major league club and all their minor league affiliates – the Tampa Bay Rays activated Kiermaier to both the 40- and 25-man rosters for the first time on September 30, 2013.

He played two innings in the 2013 American League Wild Card Game against the Cleveland Indians, which was his only postseason appearance that year.

That winter, Baseball America rated him the tenth-best prospect in the Rays' minor league system.

On May 18, 2014, Kiermaier hit his first major league home run against Mike Morin of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

He finished 2014 hitting .263 with 10 home runs in 108 games and was one of the finalists for the Gold Glove Award for American League right fielders.

He has gained attention for his overall outfield defense, winning Gold Glove Awards for center fielders in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2023.

Kiermaier attended Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and played for the school's baseball team.

Bishop Luers won the state championship in Kiermaier's senior year.

After being recruited by college programs for their football teams and almost committing to attend Purdue University, Kiermaier opted to play college baseball and enrolled at Parkland College instead, where he competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

As a freshman, Parkland won the NJCAA National Championship.

Kiermaier was named a NJCAA All-American in his two years at Parkland.

In a game at Tropicana Field against the Kansas City Royals on August 29, 2015, Kiermaier was involved in a failed but humorous attempt to rob designated hitter Kendrys Morales of a home run.

Morales hit a fly ball which appeared to be clearing the center field fence for a home run.

Kiermaier leapt and momentarily perched himself upright on the top of the fence and waited to catch the ball before it landed.

However, it dropped approximately 30 ft in front of the fence, and Kiermaier watched it bounce as he continued to cling to the fence.

The ball had deflected off one of the catwalks suspended from the roof, and, in accordance with park rules, the umpires awarded a home run to Morales.

One of 15 MLB outfielders to register a throw back into the infield at or above 100 mph in 2015, Kiermaier led all MLB outfielders by reaching 100 MPH nine times, while all others combined to reach that speed 27 times.

Kiermaier finished the 2015 season leading all major league fielders in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with 42, the highest number since the start of calculations of the statistic.

He garnered 5.0 defensive Wins Above Replacement (WAR), fourth all-time according to Baseball-Reference.com.

His overall 7.3 WAR ranked third in the American League behind Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson.

Kiermaier won his first each of the Fielding Bible Award for MLB center fielders, Gold Glove Award for American League center fielders, and the American League Platinum Glove Award, awarded to the best overall defensive player in each league.

He made his major league debut in that evening's wild card tie-breaker game – the Rays' 163rd game of the season – and played one inning against the Texas Rangers in the ninth as a defensive replacement.

Rays general manager Andrew Friedman commented that the club included Kiermaier on the major league roster late that season specifically for his defense in center field.

Improving upon the previous season's results as a hitter, Kiermaier began the 2016 season by decreasing his strikeout rate, nearly doubling his walk rate, and increasing his power.

In a 5–4 loss to the Detroit Tigers on May 21, he fractured two bones in his left hand while attempting to catch a sinking line drive off the bat of James McCann.

After undergoing surgery to repair the fractures, he was medically cleared to resume limited workouts on May 27.

Despite missing significant time, Kiermaier was once again one of the best defenders in all of baseball, leading all center fielders with 25 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) despite playing in almost 400 innings less than the next player on the list, Kevin Pillar.

Kiermaier also paced all major leaguers with a 2.95 dWAR (defensive wins above replacement).

Kiermaier finished the season hitting .246 with 12 home runs in 105 games.

He also stole 21 bases.