One big leaguer tested positive for banned stimulant

NEW YORK (AP) — One unidentified major league player tested positive for a banned stimulant in the year ending with the World Series.

Under the joint drug agreement between Major League Baseball and the players' association, an initial positive test for a banned stimulant results in six additional urine tests over the next year rather than a suspension, and the identity is not announced. The positive test for an amphetamine was listed in the annual report issued Friday by the drug program's Independent Public Administrator.

In the year ending with the 2017 World Series, there were two positive tests for banned stimulants that did not result in a suspension, one each for Adderall and D-Amphetamine.

Players not on 40-man rosters are not covered by the union and are subject to the minor league drug program, which mandates is most cases a 50-game suspension for an initial stimulant violation.

Major League Baseball conducted a record 11,526 drug tests, a 39 percent increase from two years ago, that resulted in 11 positive samples in the year ending with the World Series. There were 9,282 urine samples for performance-enhancing substances, stimulants and the drug DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone), plus 2,244 blood samples for human growth hormone.

Two players tested positive for the diuretic Furosemide: Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano and Chicago Cubs pitching prospect Oscar De La Cruz.

There were eight positive tests for performing-enhancing substances: Washington catcher Raudy Read and Kansas City outfielder Jorge Bonifacio tested positive for Boldenone; Houston pitcher Dean Deetz and Toronto pitcher Thomas Pannone for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT); Chicago White Sox catcher Welington Castillo for Erythropoietin (EPO); Pittsburgh pitcher Nik Turley for Ipamorelin; Minnesota shortstop Jorge Polanco for Stanozolol and Marcos Molina for Clostebol and former New York Mets pitcher Marcos Molina for Clostebol.

All received 80-game suspensions except for Molina, a free agent by the time he was banned for the rest of the season on Aug. 2.

There were 102 Therapeutic Use Exemptions for otherwise banned drugs: 101 for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and one for hypertension. That was down from 106 in the previous year.

The report was issued by Dr. Thomas M. Martin, a retired U.S. Army colonel who is a former director of the Defense Department's drug testing and program policy office.