Blue Jays infielder Orelvis Martinez received an 80-day ban for violating the MLB performance-enhancing drug policy on Sunday, two days after the 22-year-old made his big-league debut with Toronto.
General manager Ross Atkins responded to the MLB suspension on Sunday morning and said the Blue Jays were “surprised” by the positive test.
“The Blue Jays fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, and strongly believe in keeping the game on a level playing field,” Atkins said. “We were both surprised and disappointed to learn of Orelvis Martinez’s suspension. We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from this mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”
Martinez was promoted by the Blue Jays 48 hours before the suspension took effect to help replace Bo Bichette. With Bichette landing on the injured list, Martinez was in the lineup Friday, batting eighth, at second base against the Cleveland Guardians. With his parents in the stands at Cleveland, he recorded his first big-league hit — and single to left-center field off of right-hander Carlos Carrasco in the sixth inning — and gifted the ball to his family postgame.
“My dream since I was a little kid was to be a Major League baseball player. I’m grateful for this opportunity,” Martinez said.
He also committed a fielding error in the loss.
Martinez smacked 16 home runs for Toronto’s Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo and was in the top 10 in the International League in RBIs with 46 at the time of his promotion.
–Field Level Media
