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. He will be eligible to return June 29, barring any postponements.
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 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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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