The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced Tuesday that Brandon Brown, a current free agent third baseman that spent time in the New York Mets’ farm system, has been suspended for 50 games after results of a blood test showed evidence of Stanozolol.
Stanozolol, or more commonly known as Winstrol, is one of the most popular anabolic steroids on the black market.
Used to help athletes avoid being sidelined by injury and make them perform better, Stanozolol was one of the main drugs at the core of the steroids scandal that has greatly affected Major League Baseball in the US and caused the period from around 1990 to the mid-2000s in the sport to be known as the “steroids era.”
Former baseball stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have both long been suspected of using stanozolol.
A 22nd-round draft pick in 2010 out of South Alabama, Brown spent three seasons in the minors in the New York Mets’ system.
Last season with the Class A Savannah Sand Gnats, he hit .222 with five homers and 34 RBI in 91 games.
His suspension — the 18th drug violation ban handed out to a minor leaguer this year — will be effective immediately upon his signing with another Major League organization.
Brown’s 50-game suspension wasn’t the only ban doled out to an athlete this week.
On Tuesday, the NFL suspended Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon without pay for the first four games of the 2013 season for violating the league’s Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse.”
Blackmon, a first round draft pick out of Oklahoma State, signed a four-year, $18.5 million contract with the Jaguars in 2012.
It’s unclear if his suspension will jeopardize any guaranteed money in the contract.
via Mlb.com
