Brewers’ Ryan Braun Suspended for Rest of Baseball Season for Drug Violations

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun has been suspended for the rest of the season by Major League Baseball (MLB), for violating the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, MLB.com reports.

Braun will miss 65 regular-season games, and any potential post-season games. His suspension is without pay. He is the first in a potential group of baseball players to be banned because of their connection with a South Florida clinic accused of supplying performance-enhancing drugs to players, according to Bloomberg.

“We’ve scratched the tip of the iceberg,” MLB Network analyst Mitch Williams told Bloomberg. “There’s going to be a whole lot more suspensions after this.” Other players who might face suspensions include the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and the Texas Rangers’ Nelson Cruz, the article notes. About 20 players could eventually face suspension.

The players are connected with a Miami-area clinic, Biogenesis of America, which is now closed. In January, a Florida newspaper reported Rodriguez and Braun obtained performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis. MLB filed a suit against Biogenesis for allegedly providing performance-enhancing drugs to players, and advising them on how to pass drug tests. The clinic’s owner, Tony Bosch, reached an agreement to cooperate with a MLB investigation.

In January, MLB and its players union announced they reached an agreement to conduct in-season blood testing of players for human growth hormone. Players also will be tested for synthetic testosterone, which is increasingly popular because it washes out of the body fairly quickly after being used.

Major League Baseball was the first major sport in the United States to agree to human growth hormone testing. It reached an agreement with its union in November 2011 to test for the substance, but only in spring training and the off-season. The new agreement expands the testing into the baseball season.