The Rockies announced Thursday that infielder Colton Welker has received an 80-game suspension without pay for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Welker tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, a banned substance, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets.
Welker issued a statement in response to his suspension (via the MLBPA), saying in part: “I want to make it very clear that I have never willingly nor intentionally ingested any substance to enhance my athletic performance. Given the information provided to me by the Players Association and laboratory, the amount detected was so minimal that it would have no effect on enhancing my performance. I understand that a number of other players, like me, have tested positive for this metabolite at microscopic levels, and I intend to join them in seeking answers as to how this is happening in order to clear my name.”
A fourth-round pick of the Rockies in 2016, Welker has slashed .313/.364/.469 with 34 home runs in 1,409 plate appearances during his minor league career. The 23-year-old hasn’t played above Double-A ball, but he was set to open 2021 in Triple-A prior to receiving this suspension. Baseball America and FanGraphs are among the outlets that consider Welker one of the Rockies’ top 10 prospects, with the latter’s Eric Longenhagen writing that he could evolve into a “role-playing corner bat but the power/defensive spectrum shortcomings leave him short of a more regular role.”
Oof
That’s what they all say
Sure do.
& it is complete BS, man.
I’m pro PEDs. Just to make that clear.
But this is Methyl Test. It’s a very short acting anabolic steroid. Meaning: exactly what someone who is trying to dodge dropping a dirty UA would use.
We’re seeing a proliferation of positive tests around this particular (& similar) substances. These guys absolutely know they are taking it. Take my word on this. It would be impossible not to, serious.
Exactly. Plus you have to be pretty dumb to get caught using Turinabol. It’s such an easy drug to manipulate.
Well technically according to MLB I take a “PED” everyday in Dexmethylphenidate. I get prescribed it for ADHD and I think it’s kind of stupid that it’s banned when all it does is slow my thoughts down enough to where I can focus on the task at hand. I guess I’m sort of pro PED as nobody should be able to tell you what you can’t put in your body.
didnt they have a thing a few years back where they granted x number of players with ADHD an exemption.
Well…I’ve certainly never taken any PEDS.
If my UA says otherwise I wouldn’t know how that could possibly happen.
Look.
I’m closing in on 3,000 career geese & 500 career grouse. Wouldn’t want any allegations to – ya know – tarnish my “legacy”.
Ahem.
& who wants to look good & feel great anyway?
Golly. Not me, sir.
They do, @DarkSide.
But it is determined on a year by year basis as to whom is eligible. Chris Davis is the best example of a player jerked around by this inconsistent & seemingly arbitrary policy.
@Ducky
That’s quite the impressive number lol.
shhhhhhhhhh…
(I’m making it up)
I just wanted to evoke memories Palmeiro (who should absolutely be in the HOF).
Palmeiro had old time numbers. He may have finished with a career batting average over .300 but he was NEVER a big home run hitter and then all of a sudden he is popping 30+ like nothing. He would have been a 300 homer, 275+ BA.
I do not believe that at all, @goose.
The PEDSs more than likely added to his longevity. Nothing more. You can take all the steroids, etc in the world & still not be able to hit (or throw) a curveball.
The BBWA (guys who were all probably picked last on the playground) have convinced a whole lot of otherwise savvy baseball fans that somehow running some gear will instantly turn Olive Oil into an All Star caliber player.
That is entirely false.
you mean like Roger Maris
Adderall
All Chris Davis had to do to avoid a suspension was file paperwork on time. Nothing herky jerky about it.
The policy is in place for good reason . If you have adhd, adderall has a calming effect but if you don’t (or you do and wanna have a good time lol ;^)) it’ll enhance performance across the board by a solid fifty percent
PEDs extend careers, yes. But they also help guys like Big Papi hit jacks that would’ve been outs. There are players, like Papi, who wouldn’t have lasted a year much less 20 without them.
They definitely help. Or else guys wouldn’t do them.
That’s absolutely funny man! You must be a “nordener” to know about grouse, my favorite thing to hunt, eh! I have an outstanding partridge pie recipe!
Yes and then they stopped it, Davis of the Orioles hasn’t been the same since
Sounds like a wild goose chase. Also, Duck Tales.
You can certainly add some bulk.
But baseball isn’t football*.
Oftentimes that bulk is detrimental. The main benefit is going to be in re to recovery. So you can work out in-season, play through some minor stuff, & practice/play hard more consistently.
As for Ortiz…well, I saw him play out here before he went to Boston. The talent was always there. Couldn’t stay on the field. Might loathe him more than any other red sock.
So I hate to admit that no matter what he did – or didn’t do – he was an excellent pure hitter. But he was.
Again: they help to recover. Which is a pretty big deal in a season that lasts 162 games. All the injuries we’re seeing this spring has to make a fella think. Is this really better?
Ya know?
But the BBWA programing is strong. One of the all time most efficient hatchet jobs in the history of pro sports.
* in the NFL, a urine sample will not get flagged if the T count doesn’t exceed 25(!). If your T count is over 20, you are running gear.
I love a wild goose chase!
Yes. Carlos Ruiz, who has ADHD, was suspended,but he fought it and was eventually granted exemptions.
@jrwhite
So I’ve heard, it’s weird how it works because it doesn’t give me any energy at all. I consume pots of coffee for that. If anything Focalin makes me calm and tired. IDK, isn’t exactly recreational for me but I could see the appeal for people without adhd.
Man, @gould –
Tempted to ask for that recipe. I generally roast mine or make them the star ingredient of a cassoulet.
Focalin and adderal are very different. Focalin made me tired when I took it. Adderal got me high as a kite and gave me energy and opened my lungs up. It definitely made me a better tennis player.
100% dead-on perfect!
@Brian Meyer
Yep, I actually preferred the focalin though, it seems to help me better. They are both classified as “Stimulants” though. adderall (Dextroamphetamine-Levoamphetamine mixed salts.) as strange as it may sound, actually made me more tired then Focalin (Dexmethylphenidate). I don’t know how normal that is but I guess everyone is different. Over the 15+ years I’ve been taking medicine for adhd I’ve been on pretty much everything that is out there though. Ritalin (methylphenidate), Dexedrine (Dextroamphetamine), Concerta (Methylphenidate CR), Provigil (Modafinil), Nuvigil (Armodafinil), Vyvanse (Lisdexamphetamine), and Strattera (Atomoxetine). The only one I haven’t been on, or want to be on for that matter is Desoxyn (methamphetamine). It hardly gets prescribed anymore for obvious reasons, plus the neurotoxicity potential is significantly higher then all the others.
Pretty much. It’s gotten to the point where they follow the script from the agency… i respect the player more if they admit it.
Did anybody see the grant Dayton call today? That was laughable.
not gonna make much difference he hasn’t even had an at bat
that’s sad, was playing well and probably would’ve been called up mid season
Couple observations- he used the word “ingested”. So is that the only way a PED can enter your body? Of course not, I think there was something back in day that was absorbed and obviously there are PEDs injected. The statement about I’ve never ingested “any substance” to enhance my athletic performance is patently false. I would imagine at least 70-90% of players take some form of supplements or other “legal” substances through Mlb drug policy. Now if he said how did I get “caught” when 70-90% of these other guys are also taking stuff right on edge of being a banned substance, then maybe I believe him a bit more.
Some light googling reveals that this substance is a pill, which is probably why he said ‘ingested’.
Some of them go up the butt.
The players during the “steroid era” used a substance called “the cream” and another substance called “the clear.” “The cream” was an anabolic steroid that was a cream you could rub on your skin and it would be absorbed into your body. “The clear” was a clear liquid that players could put under their tongues and their mouths would absorb it sublingually. I think he may have meant “ingest” in a broader term. Even if you use a needle and inject something you are still technically ingesting it. Ingest doesn’t necessarily have to mean eat. It just means to put something inside your body through eating or absorption.
Well that sucks. I guess that means at least another half season of Josh Fuentes.
That Makes 26 Players… based upon claimed science of 3 parts per trillion.. its a load of Crap.. they are not finding the drug they are finding what they claim is a Metabilite.. the problem is .. they have no clue as to whether or not that metabolite can be produced in any other way.. and they can lie all they want about it.. In science .. humans make over 110,000 known chemicals.. last number I saw said around 1,000 had been fully studied.. Here is a fact… there are many substances we absorb thru our skin and thru our diets that we have no clue we have in our body… so How Much PCB is in your Body?
wsj.com/articles/baseball-players-are-testing-posi…
Yeah I agree… I typically think players are full of it when they say they didn’t knowingly take anything blah blah blah… but something is up with this one. There have been a huge number of players testing positive for this archaic drug from the Russia Olympics era cheating… and at levels that are almost completely insignificant. this is the second player in the past week in fact… something just doesn’t add up…
yawn. stop complaining about how you are only cheating a little. cheating is cheating.
“Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone” is also known as “Oral Turinabol”. As the name implies, it’s taken as a pill. It was developed and patented in 1961 by an East German Pharmaceutical company and used as a performance enhancing anabolic steroid for decades (known as “State Plan 14.25”, the extent and success of EG doping wasn’t fully understood until the 1990’s). Its one of those PEDs that’s mainly responsible for all those Communist gold medals handed out from then until tests were developed to detect it. It’s a bit unique in that it’s formulated so as to NOT cause the user to grow breasts. It does this by suppressing the feminizing hormone estrogen. If you’re a woman taking this stuff, over time you’re going to look and sound like a dude. Deep voice. Body hair. Acne. In addition to these traits, you’ll also grow bigger muscles, gain speed, have much better endurance. As anyone can tell, the attraction to it for male athletes is going to be pretty profound.
It sounds like something that late female pro-wrestler named China would take. She had all those symptoms except she had breast implants. She actually had more symptoms than that. She took part in a less than flattering video that was released and some people actually thought she might be a man. She wasn’t but she had the deep voice and all the other physical attributes you brought up.
Colten Welker has left the chat
When I was a kid, a Welker was someone who listened to champagne music and ingested huge amounts of Geritol.
Elon Musk is pumping this stuff into the water while Bill Gates laughs all the way to the Dogebank. Everyone is drinking it folks, get on board and enjoy the high!
Be honest, Connor. No way you correctly typed the name dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. It had to be a cut-and-paste as I just did!
Why are players taking an ancient steroid banned 50 years ago? Or perhaps they’re not and this is a testing issue? The previous players caught had extremely low levels in their system and a number of them, convincingly, are mystified by the positive test results.
I still cut and paste Krzyzewski.
Same. Or years back, Doug Mientkiewicz, who I’d simply refer to as “eye chart.”
Former Padres catcher Doug Gwosdz’s nickname was Eye Chart.
I never knowingly took anything banned. Right. And Angel Hernandez is a great ump.
tested positive for what!? 🙂
Several positive tests for this are supposedly about to be announced.
Either there’s a new designer drug/supplement being used or guys are using the same stuff the 1970s Olympic athletes used. I’m betting on the former.
Sounds like Ryan Braun
dehydrochlormethyltestosterone
Given that loads of people work honestly to do the best they can and watch cheaters get ahead, I abhor all forms of cheating. That spit is totally unnecessary. Take damn care of yourself.
Would you sign up for brain surgery with some hack who cheated her way through medical school? Would you trust your child’s life to such people?
It’s easy to watch people on TV and say you don’t care what they do. That’s a bull spit world. In my world I do care what people do. I want them to be honest.
Sorry if I come across preachy. But I think it’s ALL a load of crap for lazy arse people who don’t want to work harder than the next guy. Never sign me up.
In the long term it may be beneficial for MLB to embrace modern sports medicine and let PEDs be part of the injury rehab process. This whole charade of ignorance by the industry as a whole is tiresome.
Colton Welker doesn’t need any extra inducements. His suspension is just another sign of the stupidity of the ;Rockies in not defending him.