Max Kepler signs with Diamondbacks while still serving suspension for performance-enhancing drugs

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed outfielder Max Kepler, who is still serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Terms of the deal announced on Sunday were not available.

Kepler will not be able to report to the team until June 25, when his suspension ends. He will remain on the restricted list and not count against Arizona’s 40-man roster until then.

Kepler tested positive in January for Epitrenbolone, a metabolite of Trenbolone that’s contained in some products used in body-building stores and has been used in products to promote cattle growth. Kepler was the first player suspended by MLB for the substance since public announcements of the penalty details began in 2005.

The 33-year-old Kepler hit .216 with 18 homers and 52 RBIs with Philadelphia last year after agreeing to a $10 million, one-year contract. He was slowed in 2024 by left patellar tendinitis and had core surgery after the season to repair a sports hernia.

Kepler grew up in Germany and signed with the Twins at age 16 in 2009. He has a .235 average with 179 homers and 560 RBIs during an 11-year big league career.

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