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Major League Baseball announced Friday that free agent outfielder Max Kepler received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance.
Kepler, 32, tested positive for epitrenbolone, which is a metabolite of trenbolone. The substance is found in some products sold in bodybuilding stores and has been used to promote growth in cattle.
Kepler spent the first 10 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Twins after signing as a 16-year-old in 2009. Last season, he signed a one-year, $10 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
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Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Max Kepler celebrates with teammates after scoring in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during Game 4 of the NLDS of the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on October 9, 2025. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
He struggled last season, hitting .216 with 18 home runs and 52 RBIs in 127 games. In Kepler’s 11-year career, he has a .225 batting average with 179 home runs and 560 RBIs.
The German native is the first player to be suspended for the drug since public announcement of penalty details began in 2005.
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Philadelphia Phillies’ Max Kepler during the eighth inning in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2025. (Matt Rourke, File/AP Photo)
Kepler accepted the suspension without contesting the discipline through a grievance.
Epitrenbolone was the drug that led to a suspension in 2018 for boxer Manuel Charr. The US Anti-Doping Agency announced the following year that a positive test for the substance caused it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from a world record he had set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.
Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Max Kepler hits a solo home run during the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on September 16, 2025. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn Images)
Fourteen players were suspended last year for positive tests, including two during the Major League program. Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar was suspended 80 games on March 31, and Phillies closer José Alvarado was suspended 80 games on May 25.
Although Kepler does not have a contract by Opening Day in March, MLB and the union usually allow a suspended free agent to serve his sentence as long as he tries to work out a deal with teams.
