Pirates utility man Pablo Reyes suspended 80 games for taking Boldenone

Pablo Reyes (Google Images)

Pittsburgh Pirates utility man Pablo Reyes of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic has been suspended for taking the drug Boldenone according to the Associated Press. Reyes, who has been suspended for 80 games, becomes the second player this week to be suspended for taking Boldenone. Earlier this week, Houston Astros pitcher Francis Martes was suspended a full 162 games, as it was the second time in his career he was caught taking an illegal substance.

Reyes played 45 games in the outfield and 11 games in the infield for Pittsburgh during the 2019 Major League Baseball regular season. He batted .203 with two home runs and 19 runs batted in during 153 at bats. In 71 games and 157 plate appearances, Reyes scored 18 runs and had 29 hits, seven doubles, two triples, one stole base, 13 walks, 46 total bases, and one hit by pitch. He also had an on base percentage of .274 and slugging percentage of .322.

Reyes was in his third season with the Pirates after batting .293 in 18 games with them in 2018. In an interesting statistic, Reyes had more home runs (three) in 2018 than 2019,  even though he played 53 more games in 2019 compared to his rookie season.

On January 17, Colorado Rockies prospect Justin Lawrence of Panama was also suspended 80 games for taking the banned substance Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. The Rockies 12th round pick from the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft played with the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Pacific Coast League and the Hartford Yard Goats of the Eastern League. It should be noted that Lawrence only had a record of one win and five losses with a poor earned run average of 8.76 in 38 games in relief at the minor league level in 2019.