San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and has been suspended 80 games, a suspension that ends the 2022 season, Major League Baseball announced Friday. In a statement, the 23-year-old shortstop said he mistakenly treated ringworm with a drug containing the banned substance Clostebol and that, after initially appealing the decision, he decided to withdraw the appeal. “I should have used the resources at my disposal to ensure that there were no banned substances in what I took. I didn’t,” Tatis said in his statement. “I have no excuse for my mistake and I would never do anything to cheat or disrespect the game I love.” Tatis had yet to appear in a game this season due to a wrist injury suffered in an offseason motorcycle accident. He will not be eligible to play for the Padres if they sit out the season. San Diego is 16 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West, but would hold the newly created third NL wild card if the season ended Friday. “It is with surprise and great disappointment that we learned today that Fernando Tatis Jr. tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Prevention and Treatment Program and subsequently received an 80-game suspension without pay,” the Padres said. a statement. “We fully support the Program and hope that Fernando will learn from this experience.” League policy dictates that clubs are not notified of a player’s positive test until the day the player is added to the restricted list, so the Padres did not know Tatis had tested positive when they engineered a franchise-altering deal to acquire of Juan. Soto from the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline. Nats trade Juan Soto to Padres, seismic move for sport and franchise At the time, that deal seemed like a surplus for a team struggling with its young superstar, Tatis, set to return from injury for the stretch run. In retrospect, Soto and Josh Bell will replace much-needed production as the Padres try to make the long October run they and general manager AJ Preller have been chasing for most of the last decade. Now Soto and Bell will anchor a Padres lineup that still features Manny Machado, a terrific heart of the lineup who looked poised to dominate the division but hasn’t yet: San Diego is 3-5 since trading for Soto, incl. of a sweep. at the hands of the Dodgers last week. Padres GM AJ Preller, master of the big swing, just took his biggest swing yet When Tatis was healthy in the big leagues, he was explosive. Last season, despite dealing with a shoulder injury, he led the league with 42 homers at age 22. He was an MVP candidate in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But after dealing with the shoulder problem late in 2021, Tatis returned from the lockout with a new problem, one that his team hadn’t been able to address while the players were negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement: He had broken his wrist in a motorcycle accident. His return was slower than some had hoped, but it looked likely to arrive soon. It won’t be back until 2023. This is a developing story has been updated.
