San Fernando Valley, where he was the smallest player on his Reseda Little League team. Kapler attended William Howard Taft Charter High School in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He played shortstop, second base, and third base for its baseball team, hitting .313 in his senior season, and graduated in 1993 at age 17. In his four seasons of high school baseball, he never hit a home run. During the summer, he batted .350 with 4 home runs and 30 runs batted in (RBIs) for the Woodland Hills East American Legion team. College career Kapler attended Cal State-Fullerton in fall 1993 on scholarship for one semester, before transferring to Moorpark College in the fall of 1994. He was named First Team All-Western State Conference after batting .337 with seven home runs and 52 RBIs. He was inducted into the Moorpark College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008. Professional career Draft and minor leagues Kapler was the 57th-round draft pick (1,487th overall) of the Detroit Tigers in the 1995 Major League Baseball draft. He was signed by scout Dennis Lieberthal, father of former Phillie Mike Lieberthal, after being offered a $10,000 signing bonus. Playing 63 games for the Jamestown Jammers after he signed, he tied for second in the Class A- New York–Penn League in doubles (with 19), fifth in extra-base hits (27), and batted .288/.351/.453. In 1996, with the Fayetteville Generals, Kapler led the Class A South Atlantic League in hits (157), doubles (45; 2nd in the minor leagues), extra-base hits (71) and total bases (280), was second in homers (26), RBIs (99) and slugging (.534), 5th in batting (.300), 7th in runs (81) and 10th in on-base percentage (.380). He made the South Atlantic League All-Star team. He then played for the West Oahu CaneFires in the Hawaiian Winter League, leading the league in home runs with 7. In 1997, with the Lakeland Flying Tigers, Kapler led the Class A+ Florida State League in doubles (40) and total bases (262), tied for first in extra-base hits (65), was 2nd in games, 3rd in hits (153), tied for 3rd in home runs (19) and RBIs (87), 4th in slugging percentage (.505), and tied for 4th in runs (87) and sacrifice flies (10), while batting .295. He was named a Florida State League mid-season and post-season All-Star. He then played for the Honolulu Sharks in the Hawaiian Winter League. In 1998, with