John Miller of the Wall Street Journal visited Berlin last week to write a nice article on European Baseball’s latest hopeful Max Kepler-Rozycki. The 16-year-old German outfielder signed for a bonus of $800,000 with the Minnesota Twins this summer.
An excerpt:
Max Kepler-Rozycki, 16, has just received an $800,000 bonus to sign with the Minnesota Twins, a stunning sum for a teenager out of Europe and a record for an amateur position player outside the U.S. and Latin America. Officials from a dozen Major League teams, including the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, came to Berlin this year to check out the 6-foot-3, 190-pound outfielder. They compare his compact, graceful swing to that of Shawn Green, who retired in 2007 with 328 home runs. Scouts say Mr. Kepler-Rozycki possesses baseball’s five “tools”—speed, arm strength, glovework and the ability to hit for both power and average.
