Dee Gordon’s suspension was another reminder of an issue that may never totally go away: performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
But this positive test flies in the face of at least one aspect of the PED narrative. Gordon, after all, is listed at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds. He’s hit eight home runs in 495 major league games.
“It’s probably more of a surprise than the power guys,” New York Mets second baseman Neil Walker said. “It’s more surprising given his stature and his style of game.”
When people talk about PED use in baseball, the conversation usually turns to beefed-up sluggers hitting prodigious home runs. That’s the stereotype, at least. But the evidence suggests that positive tests can come from many different types of players.
There have been eight suspensions in 2016 under the Major League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, two more than all of 2015. Before Gordon, the most high-profile players to be suspended over the past couple years were Ervin Santana and Jenrry Mejia – two pitchers. Mejia received a lifetime ban this year after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance for the third time.
Of the 14 players suspended in 2015 and 2016, seven were pitchers – Santana, Mejia, Daniel Stumpf, Andrew McKirahan, Arodys Vizcaino, David Rollins and Josh Ravin. The hitters included players of all shapes and sizes, including 6-foot-4 Chris Colabello of Toronto, 6-foot-7 Juan Duran of Cincinnati, 5-foot-9 Abraham Almonte of Cleveland – and now, Gordon.
Even in 2013, when big names such as Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta were ensnared by the Biogenesis investigation, it wasn’t just power hitters who were punished. Anyone remember Fautino De Los Santos, Sergio Escalona and Jordany Valdespin? They were implicated, too.
The sluggers get the headlines when a scandal like that unfolds, but it’s hard to pin all of baseball’s drug issues on them.
As for Walker, he’s satisfied with the progress the sport’s testing program is making.
“The system that’s in place is doing exactly what Major League Baseball and the players and the owners have hoped,” he said.
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