CNN
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Just days after making his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut, Toronto Blue Jays infielder Orelvis Martinez has been suspended for 80 games without pay for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
According to MLB, the 22-year-old tested positive for Clomiphene, a fertility drug listed on the league’s banned substance list.
Martinez, who made his big league debut on Friday and collected his first career hit in the team’s 7-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, said that he had been trying to start a family with his girlfriend for the past two years and was prescribed Rejun 50, which contains clomiphene, after visiting a fertility clinic in his native Dominican Republic over the winter.
“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,” Martinez said in the statement via the MLB Players Association. “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 … I will learn from this experience and come back to the field in September.”
Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
Martinez bats during the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians on June 21.
Martinez was signed as an international free agent in 2018 and hit .260 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs with the team’s Triple-A affiliate Buffalo Bisons this season.
“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 this mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”
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