Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar received an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use on Monday.
Major League Baseball announced that Profar tested positive for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG) in violation of the league’s joint drug prevention and treatment program.
The suspension of Profar is effective immediately. Barring postponed games, Profar would be eligible to return June 29 against Philadelphia, and would lose $5,806,440 of his $12 million salary. He is also ineligible for the postseason.
Profar called it the “most difficult day of my baseball career” and said he would never knowingly cheat.
“This is especially painful for me because anyone who knows me and has seen me play knows I am deeply passionate about the game,” he said in a statement. “There is nothing I love more than competing with my teammates and being a fan favorite. I want to apologize to the entire Braves organization, my teammates and the fans.
“It is because of my deep love and respect for this game that I would never knowingly do anything to cheat it. I have been tested my entire career, including eight times last season alone, and have never tested positive. I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”
Profar hit lead-off and started in left field in all four of the Braves’ opening series’ games against the San Diego Padres. He went 3-for-15 at the plate and scored two runs. Atlanta lost all four games to the hosting Padres.
Profar, 32, signed a three-year deal, worth $42 million with Atlanta, during this past offseason, after a 2024 season in which he made his first All-Star Game appearance. Prior to coming to Atlanta, he had two separate stints in San Diego from 2020-2022 and 2023-2024. He played 111 games for the Colorado Rockies in 2023 before the team released him and the Padres scooped him up.
Over his 12-year career, Profar has a batting average of .245. He’s coming off a season in which he won a Silver Slugger award and posted career-bests in home runs (24) and runs batted in (85).
Profar’s suspension is a blow to the Braves’ outfield, as they started the season without right-fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who’s on the 10-day IL recovering from a torn ACL he sustained in May of last season. Utility man Bryan De La Cruz will, presumably, fill in for Profar, and the Braves will have to find a new leadoff man until Acuna can return.
Profar is the fourth player who has been suspended this year for violating the performance-enhancing substance policy, with the others coming under the minor league program and the program for minor leaguers assigned outside the United States and Canada.
Two players were suspended last year under the major league drug program.
Noelvi Marte, a 22-year-old infielder who was considered Cincinnati’s top prospect, missed the first 80 games following a positive test for boldenone.
Toronto infielder Orelvis Martínez was suspended for 80 games on June 23 following a positive test for the performance-enhancing drug clomiphene, an announcement made two days after his major league debut.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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