The news was swift, brutal, and utterly shocking: Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar was handed an 80-game suspension by Major League Baseball after testing positive for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a performance-enhancing drug that is banned under the league’s policy. The suspension, announced unexpectedly at the start of the 2025 season (March 31, 2025), rocked the clubhouse and sent the front office scrambling.
Profar, 32, signed a three-year, $42 million contract with the Braves in the offseason after a career-best year in 2024, making him ineligible to participate in the 2025 postseason and costing him over $5.8 million in salary.
The Immediate Fallout: An Outfield Crisis
The suspension’s timing couldn’t have been worse, immediately creating a crisis in the Atlanta outfield which was already dealing with significant personnel issues:
- The Acuña Gap: Superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. was still recovering from a torn ACL (his second in two years) and was not expected to return to the lineup until May 2025.
- The Left Field Void: Profar was the everyday left fielder and a crucial veteran sparkplug at the top of the lineup. His sudden absence, combined with Acuña’s injury, left the Braves fielding a patchwork outfield for the first three months of the season.
Manager Brian Snitker immediately acquired Stuart Fairchild via trade from the Reds for cash to help plug the gap, and the team was forced to rely heavily on players like Jarred Kelenic, Bryan De La Cruz, and Michael Harris II to cover all three spots while juggling new acquisitions.
The Larger Questions: Tainted Performance and Accountability
The suspension inevitably sparked the deep, uncomfortable questions now facing the organization and the player:
- Tainted Legacy: Profar had just come off a Silver Slugger season in 2024 (.280 AVG, 24 HR, .839 OPS). Fans and critics are left to wonder if that career-defining performance was aided by banned substances, even though he passed eight tests during that season.
- The Player’s Defense: Profar issued a statement expressing devastation and taking “full responsibility,” but insisted he would “never knowingly cheat.” He claimed to have been tested his entire career without issue. The substance he tested positive for, hCG, is sometimes used as a masking agent or to help the body recover testosterone levels after a steroid cycle.
- The Postseason Blow: The most painful consequence for the Braves was Profar’s ineligibility for the 2025 postseason, a blow that analysts suggested might have been a factor in their shortened playoff run, as mentioned in the original context.
Despite the setback, the Braves front office and manager expressed commitment to the league’s policy, viewing the situation as an “opportunity for somebody else to step in and do something really good,” as Snitker put it. Profar did return on July 2, 2025, and provided solid production for the rest of the regular season, but the initial, brutal blow set the tone for a challenging year.
