On Friday, Major League Baseball announced that San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. will face an 80-game suspension without pay for violating the league’s drug policy. Tatis Jr. tested positive for a performance enhancing drug, Clostebol, that violates their joint prevention and treatment program and will miss the remaining 48 games of the Padres’ regular season.
MLB announced that Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. received an 80-game suspension for testing positive for Clostebol, a PED that violates MLB's joint drug agreement. Suspension effective immediately.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) August 12, 2022
The All-Star shortstop has not played a game this season due to a broken wrist he suffered in an offseason motorcycle accident that wasn’t revealed until spring training. The MLB stated that the suspension takes effect immediately, which means Tatis Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2022 season, but will also miss 32 games to start the 2023 season. Tatis Jr. released a statement expressing remorse for the situation, and citing a medication he took to treat ringworm as the way he “accidentally” took the banned substance.
Statement from Fernando Tatis Jr., released by the MLBPA: pic.twitter.com/NNzFbaKT85
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 12, 2022
The Padres are currently in a tight playoff race as they hold onto the last wild card spot in the National League. Tatis Jr. was expected to return to the Padres from his wrist injury relatively soon and bolster a lineup featuring Manny Machado and the newly acquired Juan Soto. He was recently assigned to the Padres’ Double-A team for some rehab starts, but now, the Padres will have to make their playoff push without their star shortstop who hit 42 home runs last season and knocked in 97 RBIs.
