Only 2 days after making his Major League debut, Toronto’s top infield prospect Orelvis Martinez has been suspended for 80 games by MLB for violating the league’s performance enhancing drugs policy.
Martinez was called up to the big league club following an injury to Bo Bichette in large part due to his offensive output in the minors, clubbing 16 home runs at AAA Buffalo across 63 games. In his lone taste of MLB action, the 22 year old went 1 for 3 at the plate with one strikeout against the Cleveland Guardians.
The talented infielder reportedly tested positive for clomiphene, which is a fertility drug on the league’s banned substance list. However, Martinez was quick to issue a statement on the matter, saying that he and his girlfriend had been trying to start a family, and had been prescribed Rejun 50 from a fertility clinic in his native Dominican Republic.
In a prepared statement, Martinez indicated that “We wanted to keep this matter private, even within our family, and trusted the doctor who assured us this treatment did not include performance-enhancing drugs. Therefore, I made the mistake of not disclosing this to my team or the MLBPA.”
“With that said, I took full responsibility for my negligence and accepted my suspension.”
Given the length of his suspension, Martinez would be able to return to the Blue Jays lineup in September. However, with the team currently sitting dead last in the AL East at 35-41, it remains to be seen whether the righty would be rejoining a team in the midst of a playoff push, or taking on an everyday role following a mass sell off at the MLB trade deadline.
“We were both surprised and disappointed to learn of Orelvis Martinez’s suspension,” Blue Jays executive vice president and general manager Ross Atkins said in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from his mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”
The announcement of the suspension is the latest in a series of blows for Toronto and their fanbase alike. Everyone from the front office, to manager John Schneider and even the players are currently on the hot seat after a disappointing offseason has led to subpar on field results in the first half of the MLB season.
The Blue Jays are next in action on Sunday at 1:40pm ET against the Cleveland Guardians.
Photo: Arturo Pardavila III. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.