Phillies right-hander Alec Asher, who has spent most of the season with the club’s Triple-A affiliate, has been suspended 80 games for after testing positive for a testosterone-related performance enhancing drug, reports Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter). The specific substance in question, Shaikin adds (Twitter link), is Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone — the same substance for which Blue Jays first baseman Chris Colabello and Phillies reliever Daniel Stumpf each tested positive earlier this season.
Asher, 24, was acquired by the Phillies alongside Jerad Eickhoff, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Williams and Jake Thompson in exchange for Cole Hamels and Jake Diekman in last July’s blockbuster trade with the Rangers. He made seven starts for the Phillies in 2015 but struggled, allowing 30 runs in 29 innings of work. This season, he’s posted a 2.30 ERA with 5.8 K/9 against 1.2 BB/9 in 54 2/3 innings of work between the team’s Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, though he’s been on the minor league disabled list since mid-May.
Asher currently rates 26th among Phillies farmhands, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. He didn’t crack Baseball America’s offseason top 30, and ESPN’s Keith Law noted (Insider subscription required) that Asher profiled as a reliever when looking at the Phillies’ top prospects prior to the season. Callis and Mayo note that his ceiling is that of a back-of-the-rotation starter thanks to solid control, a low-90s fastball that can touch 95-96 and a pair of potentially average (but currently inconsistent) secondary offerings.
Explains his 2.30 ERA through 53 IP.
Doesn’t explain anything. You can have that ERA at AAA for years and still get rocked in the majors
He started in AA as well
You tagged the wrong Jake Thompson, FYI.
Thanks. Fixed that.
MLB doing a great job of catching these top notch players.
BUT WHO WILL PITCH THE ALL STAR GAME!
Yes just such a cosmic coincidence that the best players don’t do PED’s. How could that be …
I think you answered your own question, right? The best players don’t need PEDs. Look at the names on the Mitchell report, and the suspensions over the years. The MR is almost entirely made up of fringe players, career minor-leaguers and 25th man types. That slight edge from using may have gotten them onto a major league bench or close to it, but the vast majority of the guys we’ve seen have been scrubs or fringe bench types.
The “stars” who have tested positive, or have admitted use – Palmeiro, Bonds, McGwire, Byrd, A-Rod – were old guys trying to prolong careers or guys like Braun, trying to recover more quickly from an injury.