Major League Baseball has suspended several players this season for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in some part due to improved technology and an increase in frequency of testing.
The group of those to be punished ranges from Miami Marlins All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon to Minor League players. Gordon tested positive during Spring Training, but his 80-game suspension wasn’t announced until late April — or when Gordon decided to drop his appeal.
Gordon’s suspension went into effect a mere 20 minutes after the Marlins completed a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Less than one week later, Dodgers right-handed reliever Josh Ravin was suspended 80 games for a positive PED test.
Ravin is recovering from a fractured left forearm sustained during an auto accident in Spring Training. The Dodgers have since lost another Minor League reliever, with Sebastian Martinez the latest to test positive for PEDs, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times:
#Dodgers Dominican Summer League pitcher Sebastian Martinez suspended for 72 games after testing positive for steroids and a diuretic.
— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) May 20, 2016
Martinez was one of four Minor Leaguers to receive a suspension on Friday. The length of his suspension is the equivalent of the Dominican Summer League schedule, meaning Martinez will miss the entire 2016 season.
Martinez signed with the Dodgers out of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic in June 2015. He appeared in eight DSL games last season, posting a 5.59 ERA with eight walks and five strikeouts over 9.2 innings pitched.
