San Francisco Giants minor league catcher Eliezer Alfonzo was suspended 50 games for testing positive for a performance enhancing substance, the first player penalized in 2008 under Major League Baseball’s drug prevention and treatment program.
Alfonzo was on the Giants’ 40-man roster so he falls under the major league program even though he has played all season at Triple-A. He played 113 games for the Giants in the 2006 and 2007, batting .263 with 13 homers and 45 RBIs.
Alfonzo apologized in a statement released by the Giants.
“I made a mistake, and I want to apologize to my family, my teammates, the fans and the Giants organization. I know what I did was wrong, and now I will pay the penalty. As a father, I now have to look my children in the eye and explain to them that I have made a big mistake, one, unfortunately, that they are also going to have to deal with, as well as me.”
The Giants also issued a statement.
“As an organization, we will continue to work with our players, Major League Baseball and the players association to do what we can do to eliminate these performance enhancing substances from our game. We will continue to support and counsel Eliezer during his suspension.”
