The San Diego Padres superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. has been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Tatis has tested positive for Clostebol, which violates Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
The league made the announcement just before the Padres’ 10-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday. The club was expecting Tatis to make his season debut later this month as he was rehabbing after surgery to repair the scaphoid bone in his left wrist which he suffered on 16 March.
Tatis has been a dominant player with a stat line of .292/.369/.596 over 273 career games across three big league seasons. He fractured his wrist in an off-season motorcycle accident before the 2022-23 season. Tatis had signed a 14-year, $340 million extension before last season and is set to forfeit roughly $3.2 million during the suspension.
Fernando Tatis Jr. released a statement addressing his suspension and talked about how he used medication to treat ringworm but wasn’t aware that it contained Clostebol. He apologized to his team for this mistake and expressed that he is looking forward to rejoining his teammates on the field in 2023.
"I have been informed by Major League Baseball that a test sample I submitted returned a positive result for Clostebol, a banned substance. It turns out that I inadvertently took a medication to treat ringworm that contained Clostebol. I should have used the resources available to me in order to ensure that no banned substances were in what I took. I failed to do so", Tatis said in a statement.
"I want to apologize to Peter [Seidler], A.J. [Preller], the entire Padres organization, my teammates, Major League Baseball, and fans everywhere for my mistake,” the statement continued. "I have no excuse for my error, and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect this game I love."