Kepler’s success could have ripple effect
.821 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and 15 home runs this season who is one of the top rookies in the sport and representative of an emerging market for talent.
There have been 44 Germanborn players in MLB history, according to historian John Thorn, with the first making his debut in 1871 and the latest, Bruce Maxwell, last month. Many have been like Maxwell, born abroad because an American parent was on duty in the armed forces and eventually returning to the USA to play in this country.
Kepler, however, was conceived and born in Germany, to an American mother and a Polish father, two ballet dancers who met in Berlin and decided to stay and raise a family. He hardly had ambitions of baseball stardom in his youth, but by the time he was 16 he became a major prospect and signed for a $775,000 bonus in 2009, then the largest sum ever given to a European-born player.
Three years ago, Marten Gasparini, an Italian shortstop, signed with the Kansas City Royals for a reported $1.3 million. Like Kepler, Gasparini gave up soccer to pursue professional baseball.
Baseball is increasingly looking to Europe for players. Bill Bavasi, the head of MLB’s scouting bureau, told Baseball America this year that he saw a growth opportunity there and was adding emphasis to mining the continent.
It makes sense in the plainest terms, too. As the cost of amateur talent continues to increase in Latin America, Cuba is no longer ripe for arbitrage and a pipeline to South Korea gains a foundation, Europe could be the next untapped market. Terry Ryan, the former Twins general manager who signed Kepler, says that, even with every team having already deployed scouts there, interest might be growing.
“It’s not heavily saturated like Florida, Texas, the Dominican, even Australia,” he said.
Kepler did not get serious about baseball until he was almost a teenager. He played for Hertha BSC, a soccer club, and was more focused on his professional chances. Baseball was a hobby. He began playing at 7 in a twice-a-week league and was fairly lax about it. Initially, he thought it was too boring and too stagnant.
“It’s not really that available to people who are looking to have their kids play sports,” he said. “You’re not going to find baseball in Germany. You really have to look baseball up and go out of your way to find some good baseball. It’s probably like soccer over here. They have it here and there, but the good soccer teams, you have to look for them. Like in Germany, you’ll find good soccer teams on every corner.”
Part of the calculus for him was the social aspect of playing the sport. His friends played soccer. When he would get older and go to play baseball, he was the one frowned upon by his friends, he said. His father had also wanted him to play soccer.
Without much of a footing for the sport in Berlin, the leagues Kepler played in tried to re-create baseball culture at the youth level. They tried to make baseball games as similar to those in the USA as possible, from the food to the fans. Whereas brats and currywurst were sold in the stands at soccer games, hamburgers and hot dogs were available at Kepler’s games.
“They’d try to Americanize and make the atmosphere seem really American, even though it wasn’t,” he said. “They’d have everybody in the outfield or on the field screaming the baseball terms with the heavy German accent. It was very similar, and it created a good vibe because it was everyone on the field’s dream to get to the States.”
There also wasn’t much competition. Once Kepler devoted himself to the sport, he struggled to find challenges.
At 13, he started playing in leagues with men 20 and older.
At 15, he moved to a boarding school in Bavaria to put himself in front of more scouts. Then he signed with the Twins.
Kepler’s success this year might just have an effect on how popular Europe ultimately gets for teams. Kepler could be a model for the next generation of German and continental players and for organizations hoping to acquire them. Or he could remain an exception.
Europe, Ryan said, reminds him of Australia decades ago, when it started to export players such as Dave Nilsson and Graeme Lloyd. But those two remain the gold standard of Australian baseball, with just one player making it to the majors from there in the last five years.
“I know it’s getting more advanced by the year,” Ryan said. “I suspect with him and the attention it’s getting in Germany, it’s going to increase as we go forward.”