No pressure or anything, but Grantland's Michael Bauman wrote an article about how important the development of Max Kepler may be to the growth of baseball in Europe. 

 

There was Italian Alex Liddi who gave up in 2013, but played in just a handful of games in the big leagues. Kepler getting called up and being such a highly thought of prospect gives more hope that baseball could take off in Europe. Excitement over Kepler becoming a long-time big leaguer could give reason for MLB to scout Europe more, or for them to build academies and such in Europe.

 

Obviously all Kepler can do is be himself and represent Germany to the best of his abilities. But those added bonuses for baseball will only make the game better long-term. 

Fun article.  It would be nice to see baseball grow even more.  It has a solid foothold in some places - DR, Japan, Venezuela etc but it certainly can grow more.

Great read, I'm really excited about what our OF might look like in the near future.