Fernando Tatis Jr.’s father has called it a « disaster » that his son and San Diego Padres star’s reputation has been tarnished by his 80-game doping suspension.
Fernando Tatis Sr., who played in the major leagues for 11 seasons, told ‘The Midday Show’ in his native Dominican Republic on Monday that Tatis Jr used the drug Trofobol to treat ringworm that appeared on the side of his neck, which a photo had previously been posted on her mother’s Instagram page.
The label lists clostebol, the anabolic steroid for which Tatis Jr tested positive, and neomycin, an antibiotic, as its two main ingredients.
Tatis received an 80-game suspension Friday after testing positive for clostebol, which rules him out of the Padres’ final 48 regular-season games and their playoff progression, if successful. The remainder of the suspension will be served at the start of the 2023 season. The sanction came as Tatis was in the final stages of his recovery from his left wrist injury.
Tatis Sr. acknowledged his son made a mistake by not realizing the drug contained a steroid, a direct violation of MLB anti-doping policy, but added that the case « could have been handled better, » without go into details.
« I don’t think there was a reason to destroy a player’s image for something as minor as that, » he told ‘The Midday Show’ in Spanish.
Later, Tatis Sr. added, “It’s a disaster what happened, not just for Jr. but for all of baseball. There are millions of fans who are going to stop watching baseball now. It’s a total disappointment for the Dominican fans, the fans all over the world, for something so insignificant that was not worth it. »
Clostebol is, in fact, a derivative of testosterone and is an anabolic steroid that has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Dee Gordon and Freddy Galvis have previously been suspended for testing positive for the substance by MLB, which has listed clostebol as a banned substance since its drug testing program began in 2003.
Tatis Jr. is the first player in major league history to have 80 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the first 300 games of his career, but he will have played only 273 of the 546 regular season games in which he would have could take part.
« There’s something no one can ever take away: the grace with which Fernando plays the game, » Tatis Sr. said. « There’s no human being who can ever take that away. »
