3 of MLB's best hitters since April 22: Ryan Jeffers, Max Kepler, Willi Castro

Kepler and Jeffers have been a huge reason for the Twins' success.

May 5, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Twins Ryan Jeffers (27) celebrates his home run / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Since April 22, Ryan Jeffers (1.247 OPS) and Max Kepler (1.242 OPS) have the two-f9highest OPS marks in baseball (among hitters with at least 40 plate appearances).

Since the start of the Twins' 12-game winning streak on April 22...

Kepler - .434/.492/.755 (1.247 OPS)
Jeffers - .370/.446/.796 (1.242 OPS)

Those are the two highest OPS marks in baseball in that span among hitters with at least 40 PA.

— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) May 9, 2024

Kepler returned from injury on April 22 and he has been red-hot ever since. Over the last 15 days, he is second in the entire league with a .434 batting average. Believe it or not, Ryan Jeffers is not too far behind, ranking 12th with a .357 mark. Minnesota is one of three teams with two players in the top 12, joining the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres.

When it comes to OPS, Kepler leads the entire league over the last 15 days with a mark of 1.289 and Jeffers is third at 1.241. Superstars like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper are all looking up at the Twins' two red-hot hitters on the league-wide leaderboard.

Jeffers leads the entire league with 17 RBI since April 22 and the next closest is a group of players at 14, including Kepler. The 26-year-old catcher is currently playing the best baseball of his career and it's helping the Twins in the win-loss column.

It gets even better.

Since April 22, the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) leaders in the majors include Jeffers (1.4) in the top spot followed by three players at 1.3: Kepler, Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. and Minnesota's Willi Castro.

Kepler's .434 batting average since April 22 is No. 1 in the majors. Jeffers is fifth at .370 and Castro is sixth at .368 (since April 22). What's more is that in the wRC+ (Weighted Runs Created) category, Jeffers and Kepler rank 1-2 since April 22. League average is 100, and Jeffers is at 247 and Kepler is second at 238.

Ohtani (214), Harper (206) and Judge (205) are all in the top 10 of wRC+, but they're looking up at Jeffers and Kepler. Oh, and Castro is 12th in wRC+ since April 22 at 191.

Minnesota has won 15 of its last 17 games to get within 1.5 games out of first place in the AL Central.