🚨 Fallout is escalating after Jurickson Profar’s suspension—and now a former MLB catcher is turning the heat directly on Fernando Tatis Jr..NL
Atlanta Braves All-Star outfielder Jurickson Profar joined former San Diego Padres teammate Fernando Tatis Jr. among the players suspended for performance-enhancing drugs in recent years.
What does one have to do with another? Ask ex-major league catcher Erik Kratz.
Major League Baseball suspended Profar for 80 games this week after he tested positive for chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a drug that helps produce testosterone. Profar will not be eligible to return until late June at the earliest, and he’s ineligible for the postseason.
Once considered baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect, Profar revived his career with the Padres last year, in his 11th big league season, and signed a three-year deal with Atlanta in free agency this winter.
Speaking Tuesday on the “Foul Territory” podcast, Kratz implied the Silver Slugger’s long-awaited breakout season a year ago, at age 31, was the result of more than just fine-tuning his swing.
“You went and worked on your lower half with Fernando Tatis and his dad (Fernando Sr.),” Kratz said. “Just come out and be honest.”
“Let everybody be honest about what happened,” Kratz added. “Because everybody who has ever tested positive comes out and says what it is. And if you don’t want to say it, to me, that assumes more guilt.”
Profar, Tatis Jr. and Tatis Sr. had not addressed Kratz’s accusations as of Wednesday morning.
The younger Tatis tested positive for clostebol, a medicine he said came from treating ringworm, in August 2022. His father played 11 major league seasons and never failed a drug test. Neither was he named in the 2007 Mitchell Report. The younger Tatis had never failed a drug test prior to 2022 and has not failed one since.
Profar, Tatis and longtime MLB second baseman Robinson CanĂł are among the more notable players suspended for PED use over the last decade. CanĂł, who spent much of his career as a likely Hall of Fame candidate, served an 80-game suspension in 2018 and sat out the 2021 season following another positive test.
Profar and Tatis face a 162-game ban if they fail a second test during their careers.
