With Latest, Minor League Drug Suspensions Up 43 Percent From '08

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced late Friday that New York Mets Minor League pitcher Santiago Valdez has received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The suspension of Valdez is effective immediately. He is a member of the organization’s Gulf Coast League team. (See the complete history of drug suspensions in major and minor league baseball) Valdez represents the 58 minor league drug suspension of the year, a 43 percent increase from last season on this date when there were 33 drug suspensions. The total for all of last year (including off-season suspensions up to 12/22) was 66. The all-time record for minor league drug suspensions was 87 in 2005, the first year of mandatory drug testing for US and Canadian players in the minors. Since then, players from the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues have been added to ...