Ryan Braun Tests Positive for Performance-Enhancing Drugs

In news that has rocked the baseball world, Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn of ESPN.com are reporting that 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.  Braun, who is denying reports and plans to appeal the positive test, is facing a 50-game suspension if the initial finding is upheld.

There has been no official announcement by Major League Baseball regarding the failed drug test because Braun is disputing the case through arbitration.

Braun’s personal spokesman confirmed the positive test and issued the following statement:

“There are highly unusual circumstances surrounding this case which will support Ryan’s complete innocence and demonstrate there was absolutely no intentional violation of the program. While Ryan has impeccable character and no previous history, unfortunately, because of the process we have to maintain confidentiality and are not able to discuss it any further, but we are confident he will ultimately be exonerated.”

Braun told USA Today that the test results that link him to use of PED’s is “B.S.”.

Braun’s failed test occurred during the MLB playoffs when he was required to provide the league with a urine sample.  Braun was later notified of the positive test results in late October.

According to “Outside the Lines”, the positive test was “triggered by elevated levels of testosterone in Braun’s system.  A later, more comprehensive test showed that the increased testosterone was not produced by Braun’s body.

Brewers owner Mark Attanasio released a statement saying that Braun “has been a model citizen in every sense of the word, both in the Milwaukee community and for the Brewers”.  Attanasio goes on to state that Braun’s current situation involves “an incomplete set of facts and speculation”.  He warns fans from rushing to judgment and that Braun himself “deserves the right to be heard”.

Braun has fought the original ruling from the start.  Immediately after finding out that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, Braun requested a second test be conducted.  This test came back negative.  While Braun and his representatives realize that the second test does not nullify the original positive test, it should show that there was something wrong or at least unordinary with the first.

Those close to Braun say that the 28-year-old is telling them he never knowingly took any illegal substances.

While proving that he didn’t knowingly take any banned substance may help Braun in the court of public opinion, it won’t get his 50-game ban reduced unless he can “show that he ingested something that was either tampered with or no player reasonably could have assumed to have been contaminated”.  “Outside the Line” reports that this is the only way Braun would win an appeal.  It’s also important to realize that no player has ever won an appeal.

Braun has been one of the leagues best and brightest since joining the Brewers in 2007.  MLB often referred to Braun and other young players as examples that their new drug testing had worked at cleaning up the league.