Braves' Jurickson Profar reportedly facing 162-game suspension after second positive PED test in last year
Braves' Jurickson Profar reportedly facing 162-game suspension after second positive PED test in last year
Andy Backstrom Tue, March 3, 2026 at 6:49 PM UTC
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The Atlanta Braves reportedly won't have designated hitter Jurickson Profar for the 2026 season. The 33-year-old Profar is facing a 162-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug for the second time in the last year, ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Tuesday.
Last year, on March 31, Profar tested positive for a banned substance called human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone normally produced during pregnancy but, in males, can stimulate the production of testosterone. As a result, MLB suspended him for 80 games and ruled him ineligible for the postseason, which the Braves missed for the first time in eight years anyway.
Regardless of if Atlanta makes it back to the playoffs this time around, Profar won't be eligible, per Passan, who also reported that Profar will be ineligible for the upcoming World Baseball Classic, in which he was slated to play for a Netherlands squad that includes players from his native Curaçao.
Additionally, Profar will forfeit his $15 million salary for the 2026 MLB season, per Passan. Profar has one year and $15 million remaining on the three-year, $42 million contract that he signed with the Braves after earning an All-Star nod and a Silver Slugger Award with the San Diego Padres in 2024.
MLB increased the penalty for two-time PED offenders to a full season in 2014. Since, only six players have received a 162-game ban for PED use, including Profar, who is the first in that category in two-and-a-half years. Before Profar, the last player to be hit with that kind of PED suspension was Milwaukee Brewers reliever J.C. Mejia in September 2023, according to ESPN.
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Once Profar returned from his suspension last season, he finished the year slashing .245/.353./.434 over the course of 80 games, the first four of which he played before that first PED ban. Along the way, he hit 14 home runs and produced 43 RBI.
The season prior, with the Padres, he recorded career highs in batting average (.280), on-base percentage (.380), OPS (.839), home runs (24), RBI (85) and more.
Profar made his MLB debut at 19 years old with the Texas Rangers. Injuries held him back early in his career, which saw him play with the Rangers (2012-13 and 2016-18), Athletics (2019), Padres (2020-22), Colorado Rockies (2023) and Padres again (2023-24) before he signed with the Braves.
But suspensions have now marred his stay in Atlanta, where the Braves are already off to another discouraging start.
They began last year's injury-riddled campaign 0-7. Before playing a single regular-season game in 2026, they're already down Profar, as well as starting pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep, both of whom underwent elbow surgery.
Source: “AOL Sports”
