San Francisco Giants prospect Adalberto Mejia has received a 50-game suspension Friday after testing positive for a banned stimulant, according to Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News.
MLB suspended Giants lefty Adalberto Mejia 50 games for testing positive for banned stimulant. One of their best pitching prospects.
— Alex Pavlovic (@AlexPavlovic) November 14, 2014
Mejia ascended quickly through the lower levels of the minor leagues after signing with the Giants for $350,000 in 2011. He has reached the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in just his second full season. The Dominican native achieved a 4.67 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP over 108 innings for Double-A Richmond last season, posting a 2.65 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 21 starts and 22 appearances. He is the future of the Giants pitching staff.
In the scouting report for him coming into 2014 on MLB.com, the left-hander was described as having the total package of what scouts look for:
“He had no problem handling high Class A hitters at age 19, as the only thing that slowed him down was a strained lat muscle that sidelined him for seven weeks. Mejia has everything scouts look for in a pitcher — stuff, size and command — and as a bonus, he’s left-handed. Mejia throws a low-90s two-seam fastball with minimal effort, getting the ball to cut or sink and locating it where he wants.”
The 21-year-old emerged as one of the club’s top pitching prospects over the last two seasons, and was posted by Baseball Prospectus in January as the Giants’ second-best minor leaguer.
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