Braves' Jurickson Profar Gets Popped For PEDs For Second Straight Season, Sparks Fierce Reaction
You can't make this stuff up.
Last March, baseball fans were met with headlines about Atlanta Braves star Jurickson Profar facing a suspension for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Less than 365 days later, and fans are reading the exact same thing about the former All-Star.
Profar, the former No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, received an 80-game ban last season after testing positive for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) after appearing in Atlanta’s first four games. Last year's suspension came down on March 31, and now, the 33-year-old is facing a 162-game ban as a second-time violator, as first reported by ESPN's Jeff Passan.
The 33-year-old designated hitter is the sixth player to receive a full-season ban for PED use since Major League Baseball increased the penalty for two-time offenders to 162 games in 2014.
Not only will Profar miss the entire regular season for the Braves, but he'll be ineligible to play in the postseason, can not compete in the World Baseball Classic, where he was set to represent the Netherlands, and he will forfeit his entire $15 million salary.
To say this is a less-than-ideal update for the Braves heading into this new season would be a gross understatement. Atlanta suffered what seemed like a countless number of injuries across the roster last season, in which it posted a 76-86 record.
Profar reportedly getting popped for PEDs for a second time in one year is obviously a bad look in general, but it also emphasizes what now looks to be a mockery of a statement he released a year ago after being suspended for 80 games.
"This is especially painful for me because anyone who knows me and has seen me play knows I am deeply passionate about the game," he said in a statement released by the union last March. "There is nothing I love more than competing with my teammates and being a fan favorite. I want to apologize to the entire Braves organization, my teammates, and the fans. It is because of my deep love and respect for this game that I would never knowingly do anything to cheat it.