Atlanta’s designated hitter Jurickson Profar is slated for a 162‑game ban after a second positive test for performance‑enhancing substances, reports said Tuesday.
Should the sanction stand, the 33‑year‑old will lose his full $15 million salary for the 2026 season and will be barred from postseason play and this month’s World Baseball Classic, where he had been slated to represent the Netherlands.
The ruling would make Profar the sixth player to receive a season‑long PED suspension since Major League Baseball heightened penalties for repeat offenders in 2014.
After earning his first All‑Star nod with the San Diego Padres in 2024, Profar inked a three‑year, $42 million deal with Atlanta in January 2025. He posted a .245 average with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs over 80 games in his inaugural Braves campaign, following an 80‑game suspension that ran from March 31 to July 1.
His earlier suspension stemmed from a positive test for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone linked to increased testosterone production.
Profar underwent sports‑hernia surgery during the offseason and was projected to shift from left field to the designated‑hitter role this year.
Originally the top prospect in baseball, he broke into the majors with the Texas Rangers at 19 in 2012. Over his career he has compiled a .245 batting average, 125 homers and 487 RBIs in 1,199 games for the Rangers (2012‑13, 2016‑18), the Athletics (2019), the Padres (2020‑24), the Colorado Rockies (2023) and the Braves.
Injuries have frequently interrupted his career; he has surpassed 150 games in a season only twice and missed the entire 2014 and 2015 seasons due to a shoulder problem.
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