NEWYou can now listen to PK Press Club articles!
Major League Baseball announced Friday that free agent outfielder Max Kepler has been suspended for 80 games following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance.
Kepler, 32, tested positive for epitrenbolone, a metabolite of trenbolone. The substance is found in some products sold in bodybuilding stores and has been used to promote growth in livestock.
Kepler spent the first 10 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Twins after signing there as a 16-year-old in 2009. Last season, he signed a one-year deal worth $10 million with the Philadelphia Phillies.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PK Press Club
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler celebrates with teammates after scoring in the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 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 homers and 52 RBIs in 127 games. Over 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 suspended for the substance since details of the sanction began to be publicly announced in 2005.
MLB COMMISSIONER ROB MANFRED TEASES MAJOR MOVES HE WANTS TO MAKE BEFORE RETIREMENT AS HE CONSIDERES EXPANSION
Max Kepler of the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Philadelphia on September 10, 2025. (Matt Rourke, AP file/photo)
Kepler agreed to the suspension without challenging the disciplinary action through a grievance.
Epitrenbolone is the substance that led to a 2018 suspension of boxer Manuel Charr. The following year, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced that a positive test for the substance had prompted it to disqualify 90-year-old cyclist Carl Grove from the world record he set at the 2018 Masters Track National Championship.
Philadelphia Phillies outfielder 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 within 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.
Even though Kepler does not have a contract as of open day in March, MLB and the union generally allow a suspended free agent to serve his sentence as long as he tries to reach an agreement with teams.
