Four Minor Leaguers get 50-game suspensions

Though Opening Day is less than two weeks away, four Minor Leaguers found out Friday that the start of their 2018 season will be delayed.
Cubs right-hander David Garner, Red Sox catcher Oscar Hernández, Cardinals right-hander Matt Pearce and Pirates infielder Andrew Walker were each suspended 50 games for violations of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, the Office of the Commissioner announced. Garner, Hernandez and Pearce were all banned after a second positive test for a drug of abuse, while Walker's violation was not disclosed.

Substances considered "drugs of abuse" by Major League Baseball include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy and other opiates.
Garner, a seventh-round pick by Chicago out of Michigan State in 2013, climbed to Triple-A Iowa for the first time last season and finished with a 3.25 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 55 strikeouts and 25 walks in 44 1/3 innings between there and Double-A Tennessee. He made four appearances for the Cubs this spring as a non-roster invitee and gave up four earned runs on six hits and two walks in 3 2/3 frames during his time in the Cactus League.
Hernandez signed with the Red Sox as a Minor League free agent following three seasons in the D-backs system. He was a Rule 5 pick by Arizona before the 2015 campaign and managed to stick with the organization despite playing only 18 games for the big club that summer. The 24-year-old backstop spent all of 2017 at Double-A Jackson, where he hit .197/.245/.348 with eight homers and threw out 38.3 percent of attempted basestealers in 67 games.

Pearce had been a bit of a workhorse in the Cardinals system since getting selected in the 13th round back in 2014 out of Polk State College in Florida. The 24-year-old right-hander had thrown at least 140 innings in each of his last three seasons. He posted a 4.06 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 99 strikeouts and 30 walks in 164 innings between Triple-A Memphis and Double-A Springfield a season ago.
Walker was signed as undrafted free agent by the Pirates in 2016 and has spent his time in the lower levels mostly as a utilityman. He hit .240/.331/.256 with two doubles and five steals in 39 games between Class A West Virginia and Class A Short Season West Virginia in 2017.
Thirty-two Minor Leaguers have been suspended for drug-related violations so far in 2018.