Chicago White Sox catcher Welington Castillo was hit with an 80-game suspension after failing a drug test. He tested positive for Erythropoietin, more commonly known as EPO.
Castillo is the third player to fail a drug test in Major League Baseball this season. Minnesota Twins infielder Jorge Polanco failed for the steroid Stanozolol and multi-time All Star infielder Robinson Cano failed for Furosemide, a diuretic known to be used as a masking agent.
He is the first-ever MLB player to fail a drug test for EPO.
Erythropoietin was a common drug used to dope in cycling. Lance Armstong has admitted to using EPO at times during the Tour de France. It helps stimulate red blood cell production in your bone marrow. This drug is commonly prescribed to patients who are anemic or have hypoxemia due to chronic lung disease. It basically re-oxygenates your blood and gives you an edge in endurance races.
As a baseball player, I don’t see much benefit of EPO. It’s known to have a benefit during exercise. Castillo is a catcher and isn’t exactly known for his physique. It could benefit him in the weight room or maybe in conditioning if he was looking to get in better shape. He admitted that he made a mistake and will serve his suspension. I wouldn’t put him in the same boat as others who failed outright for steroids or masking agents…although, I’ve never heard anyone taking a supplement tainted with EPO either. If you’re at a point where you’re taking EPO, you could have tried many other things as well.
Castillo, 31, made his MLB debut in 2010 for the Chicago Cubs. He was on the Cubs until 2015 when he was traded to Seattle, and then traded to Arizona soon after that. He played for the D-Backs in 2016, the Orioles in 2017 and signed a two-year/$15 deal with the White Sox this offseason. He will be eligible to return in late-August.
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About the Author…
Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.