CLEVELAND — An already reeling Toronto Blue Jays were dealt another blow Sunday, as infielder Orelvis Martinez was suspended 80 games without pay by MLB for violating the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Martinez tested positive for clomiphene, a performance enhancing substance. The 22-year-old has accepted his suspension, which is effective immediately.
According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, clomiphene is a selective estrogen receptor modulator that can alter testosterone levels in men. It’s used clinically as a fertility treatment for women but has also appeared as an undeclared ingredient in products intended to be used to enhance performance.
“We were both surprised and disappointed to learn of Orelvis Martinez’s suspension,” Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins said in a club statement. “We will do everything in our power to ensure Orelvis has learned from this mistake. Orelvis has our support, and we know he will get through this.”
Martinez, one of Toronto’s top prospects who earned his first major-league promotion last week, informed Atkins and Blue Jays manager John Schneider of the positive test result Saturday. Atkins said he believes the test occurred prior to Martinez’s promotion.
“We will work with him to ensure that he has learned from this. This is obviously a big mistake,” Atkins said Sunday in Cleveland. “We will support him when he returns and all the way through the process.”
Martinez said through a statement released by the MLBPA that he ingested clomiphene via a fertility medication called Rejun 50 that he and his partner were prescribed in the Dominican Republic last off-season.
“We wanted to keep this matter private, even within our family, and trusted the doctor who assured us this treatment did not include performance enhancing drugs,” Martinez said in the statement. “Therefore, I made the mistake of not disclosing this to my team or the MLBPA.
“With that said, I took full responsibility for my actions and accepted my suspension.”
Atkins described Martinez as humbled and emotional during their Saturday meeting. Schneider described him as upset. Many Blue Jays learned the news Saturday night, but Schneider still gathered the team Sunday morning in the visitors clubhouse at Progressive Field to announce it himself.
“The fact that he’s taking responsibility for it, I think is a good first step,” Schneider said. “It’s a young kid and he understood that he made a mistake. I think he’s probably thinking down the road how everything is going to unfold. And all he can control now is what he’s doing in the short term. But he was definitely disappointed and pretty honest for a young kid.”
Martinez’s suspension won’t have a dramatic impact on the field in the coming weeks and months, as the club was using him sparingly — Martinez went 1-for-3 in his lone game since the call-up — and were considering sending him back to triple-A Buffalo this week when Bo Bichette is activated from the injured list.
But from a wider, developmental point of view, this is a significant blow. Martinez is the club’s top position player prospect and leads all minor-leaguers in home runs since the beginning of 2021. He’ll now miss out on multiple months of important in-game opportunities to learn and improve.
He also would have been an option for the Blue Jays later this season if an infielder suffered an injury or the club wanted to inject some power into its lineup. Instead, Martinez has been placed on the restricted list and will go to the Blue Jays player development complex in Dunedin, Fla. “to focus on how he can improve as a player and teammate,” Atkins said.
Under the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, MLB and MLBA provide educational programs and materials in both English and Spanish to all players about prohibited substances and the risks of taking non-approved supplements and medications. The Blue Jays also have their own process to continue that education with players internally.
“We wholeheartedly believe in education and feel like there’s a lot of it in place,” Atkins said. “So, ensuring that all of that has been downloaded by Orelvis is a small piece of the equation. I think this actual experience is the true learning for him. But I think it’s continuing to focus on ways that he can improve as a human, as a player, and as a teammate. And there’s lots of opportunity for that throughout our resources and structure.”
Martinez’s suspension will run through Toronto’s 156th game of the regular season. He will be eligible to return to play during the club’s final homestand, which includes a pair of three-game series against the Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins. But he will be ineligible to play in the post-season should the Blue Jays qualify.