Major League Baseball just announced that Washington Nationals minor leaguer Zechry Zinicola has received a 50-game suspension. Not PEDs, though. His suspension comes after a second violation of “a drug of abuse” pursuant to the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Two things:
1. I vaguely remember Zinicola pitching for the Columbus Clippers a few years ago during the two-year period the Clippers were a Nationals affiliate. Note: everyone in Columbus has forgotten that the Clippers were a Nationals affiliate. It’s like it never happened. Sometimes I think I dreamed it;
2. I really wish they’d tell us what the “drugs of abuse” in question are for these things. Because depending on what the drug is, these suspensions could either be tragic or actually somewhat interesting. I mean, it’s never good to be on drugs, but it would tell us something very different about Zinicola if he was taking cocaine, for example, or if he was found in an opium den with some 19th century Chinese railroad workers down by the docks or something.
Anyway, Zinicola has an ERA of 4.05 in 293 minor league innings. So while this suspension is bad for him, it’s not exactly going to impact the Nats’ plans, I wouldn’t guess.
