Welington Castillo Suspended 80 Games After Testing Positive For Performance Enhancing Substance (Giuseppe)

Chicago White Sox catcher Welington Castillo will be suspended 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s joint drug agreement. It has not been specified as to exactly what Castillo was caught using, but according to a source, the substance was not a steroid.

The Chicago White Sox will likely call up Kevan Smith from Triple-A. Smith hit  .283/.343/.457 in 102 plate appearances this year.

More information regarding the suspension should come Thursday (in which case this post will be updated accordingly).

The 31-year-old catcher has his a solid (for a catcher) .270 with 6 home runs with 30 hits, a .314 on-base percentage, 0.6 WAR and 15 RBIs for the White Sox this season. The former Baltimore Oriole was sent to the White Sox this offseason after a solid 2017 season in which he hit 20 home runs with a .282.

Castillo is the second notable player to receive an 80 game suspension for the use of a performance-enhancing substance this month, following superstar second baseman Robinson Cano. Cano received his suspension for the use of Furosemide, a diuretic that is used as a masking agent for other PEDs. Testing positive for Furosemide does not merit an automatic suspension unless Major League Baseball can prove he intended to use it as a masking agent.

This is a crushing blow to an overall solid Major League career that, like Cano’s, will forever be associated with PED usage and disgracing the beautiful game of baseball.

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