Apr 15, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Max Kepler (17) reacts after hitting a double against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning at Citizens Bank Park. All players wore #42 for Jackie Robinson Day. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Even as far as professional athletes lives go, Phillies outfielder Max Kepler has a fascinating life story.
Kepler grew up in Germany, but it wasn't because either of his parents were from there. Nor were they a military family. Rather, his parents met in Berlin — Max's eventual birthplace — because they were both ballet dancers whose paths crossed.
"So my mom's from the states, born and raised," Kepler said. "She moved over there at, I think, 18, 19 [years old]. And she was doing a performance with her ballet company. My dad's ballet company was based in Berlin, and they were doing a collaboration with their companies. They met like that and decided to stay and have us kids. And that's where it all started."
Kepler's mom, Kathy, retired around age 30 to raise him and his sister, Emma, who herself was an excellent athlete as a golfer. But his dad, Marek, continued to dance well into his 30s.
So he remembers seeing his dad dance?
"Oh yeah," Kepler said. "I was backstage as a kid. I was there so much I was kind of sick of it. But now looking back, I really appreciate that I got to see stuff like that."
is this is what i think is an attempt at a little ballerina spin then this makes so much more sense now that know max kepler's parents were ballet dancers lmaoo 💀 pic.twitter.com/io72jZpzDs
Kepler himself never did ballet, but he wasn't strictly an athlete. He played some instruments on an intermediate level as a kid.
In a weird way, Kepler says he thinks seeing his parents perform as dancers prepared him to be a professional athlete.
"A lot of the preparation that I witnessed my parents do before, and the recovery after their performances, I was a part of," Kepler said. "Whether I was fully aware of it or not, I was there and I was taking it in.
"It's not the same exact sport, but there's a lot that correlates when it comes to the show having to go on, regardless of if you make an error," Kepler continued. "Regardless of if you roll your ankle on stage, and you still have another act to perform. You have to keep going. And you can't let it mentally or even physically stop you. So the slogan of 'the show must go on,' which kind of relates to both arts and sports, is something that always stuck with me."
Kepler himself could have gone another route athletically. When he was only seven years old, he got offered a tennis scholarship at the Steffi Graf Foundation. But he declined it, with baseball his true love.
"I didn't like being out there by myself. And now I play the most individual team sport on the planet," Kepler joked. "But as a kid, I just liked being around the boys and playing a team sport. In tennis, you just felt so isolated, and it was tough on me as a kid."
Suffice to say, Germany isn't exactly a baseball hotbed. As hard as it is for any American kid to get the attention of MLB scouts, it must be that much more difficult for someone living in a country much more consumed by sports like tennis, or even soccer, ice hockey and basketball.
"Looking back, I'd say it was hard," Kepler said. "But I wasn't looking to make that type of splash as a kid. I was just trying to have fun, and go out there and play baseball."
But even if he wasn't trying, Kepler definitely did make a splash
"What I heard was I was one of the first kids who brought a Yankee scout to Europe at all," Kepler revealed. "So there weren't many scouts over there, and I'm not trying to brag or anything, but we just didn't have that type of exposure. I guess I was at the right place at the right time, and had a scout that was connected to the Twins see me when I was like 15, 14, and I got lucky."
Typically we think of international free agents as being from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela. But having attended the John F. Kennedy School — described as "a bicultural, international school co-governed by the U.S. Embassy" — and played for Regensburg Legionäre of Germany's Deutsche Baseball Liga, Kepler was an international free agent.
He ultimately signed with the Minnesota Twins, the franchise he would go on to spend the first decade of his career with before joining the Phillies on a one-year/$10 million deal this past offseason.
Since his mom is American, Kepler said as a child he visited his grandparents on her side in Texas every summer. So it wasn't like coming to America was a culture shock for him.
The one thing that he did leave back in Berlin was his full last name. Kepler's legal last name actually is "Kepler-Różycki," a combination of his parents surnames. But professionally, he just uses the last name Kepler.
Did he just think Americans wouldn't pronounce the second half of his last name correctly?
"Yeah," Kepler admitted. "I had a talk with my dad, because his is the Polish side. And he was OK with it."
Kepler, though, has adapted to change throughout his whole life. And he hasn't ruled out eventually using his dad's last name.
"But I thought about switching it at some point and going by Różycki," Kepler said. "That would be cool. Or having the whole, you know, (nameplate) arc on the back."
Just imagine the sports radio callers in Philadelphia trying to pronounce that.
