Marlins right-hander Paul Campbell has been suspended for 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the league announced. Campbell tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (DHCMT).
Originally a 21st-round pick for the Rays in the 2017 draft, Campbell was selected out of Tampa Bay’s organization by the Marlins in last December’s Rule 5 draft. Making his big league debut this season, Campbell had an 8.74 ERA over 11 1/3 innings for Miami, with a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate but with some respectable hard-contact numbers. Control was also an issue, with six walks allowed in Campbell’s 11 1/3 frames.
Via the MLB Players Association, Campbell released a statement about his suspension, saying he “never knowingly, willingly, or intentionally ingested this substance in any form, nor have I ever heard of DHCMT prior to this situation.”
“Due to the fact that I do not know the origin of how this substance has entered into my system, I currently have no viable defense in support of my innocence. I have unfortunately become one of the many athletes, across multiple sports, who are presenting themselves to the world and asking for members of the anti-doping world to help us find answers as to why this metabolite is continuing to show up in athletes’ bodies and ultimately costing them significant detours in their careers.”
DHCMT has been a subject of controversy in recent years, as The Wall Street Journal’s Jared Diamond explored in a piece last August. Kent Emanuel, Tres Barrera, Chris Colabello, and Alec Asher are a few of the other MLB players who have been suspended for DHCMT, and Emanuel recently stated (hat tip to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal) that the league rejected an MLBPA proposal stating that a player couldn’t be suspended unless he had more than 100 pictograms of DHCMT in his system.