Gabe Kapler | |
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![]() Kapler with the Giants in 2023 | |
Outfielder / Manager | |
Born: Los Angeles, California, U.S. | July 31, 1975|
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
Professional debut | |
MLB: September 20, 1998, for the Detroit Tigers | |
NPB: April 1, 2005, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
Last appearance | |
NPB: May 25, 2005, for the Yomiuri Giants | |
MLB: August 14, 2010, for the Tampa Bay Rays | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .268 |
Home runs | 82 |
Runs batted in | 386 |
Managerial record | 456–411 |
Winning % | .526 |
NPB statistics | |
Batting average | .153 |
Home runs | 3 |
Runs batted in | 6 |
Teams | |
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Career highlights and awards | |
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Gabriel Stefan Kapler (born July 31, 1975), nicknamed "Kap", is an American assistant general manager of the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is also a former professional baseball outfielder and manager in MLB.
Kapler was a 57th-round draft pick (1,487th overall) by the Detroit Tigers in the 1995 MLB draft. In the minor leagues, he was an All-Star in 1996, 1997, and 1998, and was recognized by national publications as Minor League Player of the Year in 1998.
He played in the major leagues from 1998 to 2010, for the Tigers, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays (except for the 2007 season, which — having briefly retired as a player — he spent managing the Greenville Drive of the South Atlantic League, the Single-A affiliate of the Red Sox). Kapler also spent part of the 2005 season playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League.
After permanently retiring as a player, Kapler served as a coach for the Israeli national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, and as Director of Player Development for the Dodgers from 2014 through 2017. He was the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 and 2019. He became the manager of the San Francisco Giants in 2020, and led them to a franchise-record 107 wins and the NL West title in 2021. Kapler was named the 2021 National League Manager of the Year. ESPN described him as "an analytically savvy, outside-the-box thinker who [can] also relate well to players."[1] The Giants fired Kapler towards the end of the 2023 season. In December 2023, Kapler became an assistant general manager of the Miami Marlins of MLB.