Gonzalez, Collier among six suspended

NEW YORK -- Reds right-hander Carlos Gonzalez and Tigers All-Star starter Tommy Collier were among six players suspended on Friday for using banned substances.
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball said Gonzalez, Collier, Mets right-hander Gary Cornish, Astros right-hander Makay Nelson, Red Sox outfielder Tyler Spoon and free agent infielder Kal Simmons all received 50 game suspensions without pay on Friday.
Gonzalez tested positive for Methamphetamine while Cornish, Nelson and Spoon were all cited for taking Amphetamines. Collier and Simmons were flagged for second positive tests for a drug of abuse.
All will begin serving their suspensions at the start of the 2017 season except Simmons, who will need to sit once he signs with a Major League club.
Gonzalez, 26, was part of a trio of Double-A Pensacola pitchers that combined to throw a no-hitter last May 20 at Jacksonville, highlighting a season in which he went 7-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 49 outings. He struck out 57 and walked 22 in 62 innings. The Reds added him to Triple-A Louisville's roster on Jan. 9, although he has not played at that level since beginning his career in 2011 out of CSU Northridge.
Collier, a 2016 Eastern League All-Star, went 9-7 with a 4.20 ERA in 25 starts for Double-A Erie last year. He struck out 87 in 130 2/3 innings. The 27-year-old most recently played for the Tiburones de La Guaira in the Venezuelan Winter League, where he was 2-2 with a 2.81 ERA in six games.
Cornish, 22, was the Mets' 19th-round pick out of San Diego last June and went 0-0 with a 2.16 ERA in 14 relief outings at Class A Short Season Brooklyn.
Nelson, 22, was the Astros' 20th-round pick out of Southern Idaho in 2015. He went 2-3 with a 4.68 ERA in 21 outings last season between Class A Quad Cities and Class A Short Season Tri-City.
Spoon spent last season at Class A Greenville and Class A Short Season Lowell, hitting .239 with two homers, 15 RBIs and one stolen base in 37 games. He was Boston's 35th-round Draft pick out of Arkansas in 2015.
Simmons was released by Arizona on Jan. 5. He was previously suspended for 50 games on Sept. 24, 2015 after testing positive for an amphetamine, but he came back in 2016 to hit .367 with two homers, nine RBIs and a .426 OBP in 16 games for Rookie-level Missoula.
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball issued 100 suspensions in 2016 for violations of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.