All-Star Carlos Martínez is suspended for use of banned substance

The Major League Baseball Commissioner’s Office announced that free agent pitcher Carlos Martinez has been suspended 80 games without pay after testing positive for Ibutamoren, a substance to enhance sports performance, in violation of the Program for the Prevention and Treatment of the Use of MLB drugs.

10 days ago he was released by the Boston Red Sox who had acquired him through a minor league contract in early May, due to his dismal performance at the Triple A level.

In two starts, he pitched 4.1 innings where he allowed ten runs, which translates to a 20.77 ERA with two losses. He struck out four and walked three while averaging 2.769 carries and hits per inning pitched (WHIP).

Martinez was released after the 2021 season by the St. Louis Cardinals after posting a 6.34 ERA in 16 starts. The team had a contract option that he chose not to exercise. After that, Martínez was briefly part of the San Francisco Giants’ minor league affiliates, from which he, too, was released.

Martínez was at one point considered one of the Cardinals’ rotation aces. From 2015 to 2018 he was one of their best pitchers, even reaching two invitations to the All-Star Game.

Since then, injuries and indiscipline have marked the Dominican’s career, who even found himself in a brief problem with the Dominican police authorities for his participation in an activity where hundreds of people gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic in his native Puerto Plata.