Free agent outfielder Max Kepler has been suspended 80 games after testing positive for Epitrenbolone, a banned performance-enhancing drug, Major League Baseball announced Friday. Kepler played the entire 2025 season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Under MLB’s Joint Drug Agreement, PED suspensions cover regular season and postseason games “in which the Player would have been eligible to play.” Kepler can serve the suspension while a free agent, should he remain unsigned. If he does sign, he will not be paid during the suspension. Kepler will not be eligible to play in the 2026 postseason.
Kepler, 33 next month, authored a .216/.300/.391 batting line with 18 home runs in 2025. That includes .216/.305/.399 line against righties. By OPS+, Kepler has been a below-average hitter four times in the last four years. Corner outfield defense is only so valuable. Kepler was likely to settle for a small one-year control prior to the suspension.
In parts of 11 MLB seasons, the first 10 of which were spent with the Minnesota Twins, Kepler owns a .235/.316/.425 line with 179 home runs and 20.6 WAR. His best year was 2019, when he slugged 36 home runs. (Lots of homer records were set that year.)
We did not rank Kepler among the offseason’s top 50 free agents.