Seeing as he can’t play in an MLB game until next spring at the earliest, I suggest that Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar do some light reading in the coming months. He’d be wise to start with Newton’s third law of motion: Every action has a reaction.
Less than a year after serving an 80–game suspension for a positive drug test, Profar officially received another ban on Thursday. This time, Profar will miss the entire 2026 season and the playoffs. Not only is he the sixth player in league history to receive a full 162–game suspension for PED use, but he’ll forfeit the entirety of his $15 million salary.
You know that old saying, three strikes and you’re out? Profar might not even need a third strike to possibly say goodbye to his MLB career.
Jurickson Profar apparently learned nothing, and it could cost him everything
Once a top prospect who bounced around the league, Profar finally broke out with the San Diego Padres in 2024. No one, not even the most optimistic around the Padres, should have expected that he’d hit .280 with 24 home runs, 85 RBIs, and an .839 OPS. His 3.6 bWAR ranked fourth on the Padres and trailed only center fielder Jackson Merrill (4.4) among position players.
It is important to note that Profar never tested positive for PEDs during the 2024 season, nor have there been any credible reports that Profar may have been using PEDs that year.
Nonetheless, it’s disturbing — and, at least for me, sad — that this is how Profar’s career has turned out. He parlayed that breakout season with the Padres into a three–year, $42 million contract with the Braves, where the expectation was that he’d be a reliable designated hitter in a loaded Atlanta lineup. Instead, depending on whether the Braves cut ties with him after the season, his time in Atlanta might end with a .787 OPS in 80 games.
Perhaps the worst part is that Profar actually played competently upon rejoining the Braves last summer. Had he played a full season, Profar would have finished the year with close to 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. Atlanta absolutely would have taken those numbers, especially considering that the Braves finished 76–86 and missed the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade.
What will happen to Jurickson Profar following his second suspension?
As of publication, there is no indication that the Braves plan to release Profar in the near future. It is also unclear whether he’ll play for the Braves, or another team entirely, next season.
Unless the Braves agreed to pay most of Profar’s salary, I wouldn’t suggest that any teams bother trading for him — and even then, I’d urge all 29 other teams to avoid such a move. Profar has destroyed his credibility and the ability to have any trust or confidence in him. Why would you? He’s tested positive for PEDs twice in two seasons.
Now, we have seen players resume their careers following a 162–game suspension, though the two most notable cases have important context to consider. The Yankees would have needed to eat too much money if they cut Alex Rodriguez after his 2014 suspension, and he actually provided the Yankees with 33 home runs and 2.8 bWAR upon returning in 2015. His former teammate, Robinson Canó, was suspended in 2018 and then again in 2021. The Mets cut him a month into the 2022 season and, ironically, he spent the rest of the year with the Braves and Padres, Profar’s last two teams.
Personally, I do believe that Profar will play again, if only because he still has a year left on his contract. But, as I said, every action has a reaction, and two suspensions for the same crime could go a long way in deciding whether or not he deserves that opportunity.