Baseball: Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Mejia hit with 162-game MLB doping ban

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher J.C. Mejia was issued a 162-game suspension without pay after his second career positive doping test for stanozolol, Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Dominican right-hander first tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid in May of last year and received an 80-game ban from MLB.

Mejia's second positive test for the performance-enhancing substance led MLB to issue what equals a full season ban to the Brewers reliever immediately as a repeat offender under its Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program with the players union.

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"The Milwaukee Brewers fully support MLB's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and share in the goal of eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game," said, Brewers general manager Matt Arnold.

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Mejia, who made his MLB debut in 2021 with Cleveland, was 1-0 this season with a 5.56 earned-run average, 13 strikeouts and three walks over 11 1/3 innings.

His 2023 season was ended last week when he was placed on the 60-day injured list with shoulder inflammation before becoming the first player this season to receive an MLB doping suspension that would shut him down for the entire 2024 season.

The Brewers, with a record of 85-66, lead the National League Central division by six games over the Chicago Cubs with 11 games remaining in the campaign.

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