San Francisco Giants pitching prospect Adalberto Mejia has been suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball due to a failed drug test.
According to Alex Pavlovic of The San Jose Mercury News, Mejia tested positive for a banned stimulant:
As Pavlovic mentions, Mejia is regarded as one of San Francisco's best prospects. He was ranked as the Giants' No. 4 prospect coming into the 2014 season by Baseball America and MLB.com, and spent all year playing for Double-A Richmond.
Just 21 years old, Mejia was signed by the Giants as an international free agent in 2011. In the scouting report for him coming into 2014 on MLB.com, the left-hander was described as having the total package of what scouts look for in a young southpaw:
He had no problem handling high Class A hitters at age 19, as the only thing that slowed him down was a strained lat muscle that sidelined him for seven weeks.
Mejia has everything scouts look for in a pitcher -- stuff, size and command -- and as a bonus, he's left-handed. Mejia throws a low-90s two-seam fastball with minimal effort, getting the ball to cut or sink and locating it where he wants.
Losing Mejia for 50 games certainly delays his path to the big leagues next season. He still had work to do, as evidenced by a 4.67 ERA and 119 hits allowed in 108 innings, via MiLB.com, but the ceiling is bright for this young pitcher. This is just a bad speed bump on the road to what will hopefully be a long and prosperous career for a talented hurler.
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