Nieto, who spent last season at low-Class A Hagerstown, tested positive for Oxandrolone and metabolite. Use of both drugs violate the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, and a positive test for either triggers an automatic 50-game suspension.
Oxandrolone is a synthetic anabolic steroid approved by the FDA to treat alcoholic hepatitis, Turner syndrome and HIV-induced weight loss.
Nieto, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft out of American Heritage School in Plantation, Fla., has struggled to hit in three minor-league seasons. The 21-year-old catcher owns a career .210 average in 110 games and last season hit just .195 with two homers and 14 RBI in 60 games at Hagerstown.
His suspension will be effective at the start of the season; he'll be eligible to return no earlier than May 30.
19 comments:
I look at the age, the stats, the highest level of schooling, and the suspension, and I say there's a story in here somewhere. Can't help to think that it's a sad morality play.
I hope he finds his way out of this morass.
Like in Nook Logan's case, use of PEDs is no guarantee of enhanced performance.
I seem to remember a story about how he was injured, his draft status fell, he wanted to be signed for 1st round money, etc. Or was that some other catcher?
Anyway, the steroids obviously didn't do the job. Time for him to go to college, get a P.E. degree and be a middle school gym teacher.
Wait a minute. This slug hit .195 with two homers ... and was on the juice?
He's the 2011 version of Nook Logan.
These baseball drug tests are basically IQ tests. You know you're going to get tested. And this slug still failed?
Don't be so dismissive of Nook. We'd probably take him over the CF we've got now.
Thank goodness MLB is coming down hard on these single A players nobody has heard of.
I've already forgotten his name.
Nieto was seeking 2nd round money and allegedly told clubs not to pick him because he already had a pre-draft deal with the Orioles.
Interesting. I just finished reading "Game of Shadows" (the Bonds/BALCO book--several years old, but I picked it up off the bargain rack). I had been wondering what the Nats organization's record is these days with PEDs. I seem to remember a few other Nats minor leaguers getting caught recently. Is this typical for most major league organizations? Do we have more perpetrators than others? Do ours just get caught more?
It's a tough story to report, but it also leaves me wondering how many of our guys in the majors might be involved with undetectable stuff these days. Obviously a few have a history with the juice, but as the man said, I'm not here to talk about the past...
Just curious. How concerned are others that this is still a serious problem in the majors these days? No one seems to talk about it much anymore. At least no one I talk with does...
This is actually part of the thread from the previous post on the Nix addition to ST.
By my count, that means 54 Spring Training guys plus we can add in guys like Moore, Norris, Lombardozzi, Peacock, Solis, Cole, and maybe a few others. I also noticed that Matt Chico is not on any ST invitee list and I thought he had cleared waivers and was added to this list.
At any rate, that should put us at 60 - 65 which is about right.
I am with Ernie - I can't say that I follow the minor league suspensions closely, but it vaguely seems like we have more than our share of these suspensions.
Mark or anyone else, is there any sort of data source to check this?
I get the NY Post and it seems to me that the Mets have had a lot more minor leaguers suspended for PED's than the Nationals. Have no numbers to back it up, just seems a read a lot more of those articles about the Mets rather than the Nats.
Since 2005, the following Nats minor leaguers have been suspended for PED use...
2005: Ramon Castro, Josh Labandiera
2006: Greg Thissen
2007: None
2008: Weesley Hernandez
2009: Edgardo Baez, Ofilio Castro, Stephen Englund, Stephen King
2010: Seth Bynum, J.R. Higley, Steven Souza, Jorge Hernandez, Pedro Lopez
2011: Adrian Nieto
For a complete list of every player suspended over the last six years, check out Maury Brown's Business of Baseball site: http://www.bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=996&Itemid=85
Nieto's case is different than most in that he actually took steroids versus an ADD medicine that was not precribed! I say release him after the suspension ends. Adrian probably just wanted to be able to swing a 47 oz bat that Bryce swings in BP!
Mark: Who gets moved up to take Nieto's slot in the farm food chain??
I found a similar link at Biz of Sports too (http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=996&Itemid=85).
I looked at minor league suspentions since 2006 and I found these number:
Mets - 20
Cards- 18
Yanks- 17
Cubs - 14
Nats - 14
Royals-13
DBacks-11
Astros,Brewers,Dodgers,Marlins,Rangers,Rays,Philles,Reds,& Tigers each had 10
The rest of the teams all had less than 10
I'm glad my sence about the Mets was correct.
Thanks Tcostant. It looks like both hunches were mostly right - the Mets certainly are an outlier, but the Nats are also up there in the league standings.
I don't know why he is doing that. because it can affect his career for ever. People value those athletes that they avoid that kind of drugs.
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I sure hope this guy learned his lesson while he's still young enough to turn his career around. I do also find it odd that his stats were far below what one would expect of someone who was supposedly juiced up.
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