Steroid/Stimulant Use Penalties Just Got Tougher

Earlier this morning we brought you the results from the previous season’s steroid and performance enhancing drug testing done by Major League Baseball and now we bring you a bit of news regarding those 15 failed drug tests out of the 8,281 tests given and what it could  mean to those whole try to “beat the train” again in 2017. The testing is getting harder and more frequent in the new collective bargaining agreement and the penalties are too.

The suspension for a second stimulant violation, such as Adderall, is going up from 25 games to 50 games while a third violation is now a 100-game suspension, up from 80 games just a season ago. You better get that medical exemption if you want to use Adderall, just saying. A fourth suspension is an automatic permanent ban from the game of Major League Baseball.

You may take your case to an arbitrator to get your penalties decreased, the arbitrator can decrease the suspension to as little as 30 games which is down from 40 games just a season ago, as a first-time offender but you must prove that the stimulant found in your urine was there and “not your fault.” However you do that. I guess by pulling a David Ortiz and buying “some supplement from the mall at some damn GNC” while hugging the Commissioner… again, just saying. 

MLB Releases Drug Testing Results from 2016

Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association have released the results from league-wide drug testing in 2016. Here are the results if you were curious.

All-in-all there were 8,281 tests performed under MLB’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program dating back to last offseason to this offseason and of those over 8,000 tests only 15 were failed tests for either steroids, performance enhancing drugs or stimulants. Twelve of the fifteen were for PED’s while three were for stimulants such as Adderall.

Speaking of Adderal, 105 medical exemptions were given to players who suffered from attention deficit disorder (ADD) in 2016 which equates to 8% of all MLB players.

All-in-all you have to think MLB is happy with these numbers. That number is never going to be 0 but I think that 15 failed tests in an entire calendar year is as close to that number as you’re going to get. There’s always going to be those handful of players that want to “beat the train” and take those drugs anyway so this is a win in my eyes for MLB.

Great job.