Houston Astros pitcher suspended for 80 games after positive PED test

HOUSTON – Houston Astros minor league pitcher Kent Emanuel has been suspended for 80 games by Major League Baseball after testing positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a banned substance.

Emanuel is on the Astros’ 40-man roster, but not in the 60-man player pool for 2020.

Emanuel responded to the suspension with a statement released through the MLB Players Association.

“I do not know how 7 picograms of the long-term metabolite of DHCMT got into my system, but I know I have never knowingly or intentionally taken oral turinabol,” he wrote.

In 2019, Emanuel pitched 28 games in AAA, starting 7 of those games with a 3.90 ERA.