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Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar has been suspended 80 games for violating MLB’s anti-drug policy by using PEDs, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan confirmed Monday.
The first to report the news was insider Mike Rodriguez, whose report initially came out over one hour before the news was confirmed.
Profar, 32, signed a three-year, $42 million deal with the Braves this offseason after spending most of the last five seasons with the San Diego Padres. However, the one-time All-Star coincidentally had the best season of his career last year.
In 2024, Profar slashed .280/.380/.459 with 24 home runs, 85 RBIs, 29 doubles and 10 stolen bases in 158 games. It was also the healthiest season of his career. But among the aforementioned number, his home runs, RBIs, average, on-base percentage, OPS (.839) and OPS+ (134) were all career highs–as was his 4.3 fWAR, 1.9 wins higher than any other season in his career.
Ronald Acuna Jr. is still recovering from his torn ACL that he suffered last season, beginning 2024 on the injured list. Profar was signed to help alleviate that. At least now there’s a clear runway for newly-signed Alex Verdugo, a plus defender that’s been a league average bat each of the last four seasons.
Profar becomes the first “big” name to be suspended for PEDs since Fernando Tatis Jr. in August of 2022. What do they have cooking in San Diego? Jokes aside, others who have been suspended since were J.C. Mejia, Noelvi Marte and Orelvis Martinez.
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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.
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