It was announced this afternoon that Dodgers’ relief pitcher Josh Ravin was suspended for 80 games for using banned substances.
Have you ever had one guy in particular that you root for? You know, the underdog that seems to keep his positive attitude and nose down while just trying to achieve his dreams? Well, that’s how I felt about Ravin. A few months ago I wrote about Ravin and his journey to majors, which you can find here. For those of you who do not know too much about Ravin, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the fifth round of the 2006 draft right out of high school and for the past ten years he has been fighting his way to the major league roster.
It was released this afternoon that Ravin was caught using PED’s and will be suspended for 80 games which is effective immediately. Ravin released a statement which is found below:
Josh Ravin released a statement through the MLBPA: pic.twitter.com/sULuodZWR3
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) May 2, 2016
Ravin was in a car accident this spring and he broke his left arm (non-throwing arm). In his statement he explains that after struggling with the car accident injury and an awful flu that caused him to be bedside that he took a substance to help him improve his health. However, that substance he later found out was one banned by MLB.
Ravin’s suspension comes just a few days after MLB suspended former Dodger Dee Gordon and Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Chris Colabello for 80 games. This past off season Jenrry Mejia of the New York Mets was banned for life when he tested positive for the third time in his career. It seems like MLB is beginning to catch on to the problem of PED’s and not taking it lightly. Either way, the Dodgers lost a possible arm in their pen until at least the All Star break assuming he makes a full recovery from this and his injury.
As I sit at my computer and type this, I’m heartbroken. I’m so sad to see a guy who has worked towards a dream for ten years fall to something like PED’s. There is no excuse for doing so. From the sounds of it Ravin did not do it intentionally, however as a professional athlete, part of your job is to know exactly what you are putting in your body and how that is going to effect your performance. I’m mostly heartbroken that the underdog I have rooted for has cheated the game I love, whether he was fully aware or not.