When Jurickson Profar was hit with an 80 game PED suspension after just four games, it caught Atlanta Braves fans completely off guard. Profar was the jewel of the Braves' offseason and in a blink of an eye, Atlanta lost an All-Star that was expected to lead off in 2025 at least until Ronald Acuna Jr. returned from the injured list.
The impacts were wide ranging. The Braves not only lost what was assumed to be a quality bat for half the season, but it left the team flat-footed during what was already a challenging start of the season. Add in the fact that Profar won't be eligible for the postseason assuming the Braves can even get there and you have a complete dumpster fire of a situation.
However, things may actually be even worse than that. According to some musings from MLB insider Bob Nightengale, the production that got Profar paid by the Braves in the first place may have actually been just PED-fueled smoke and mirrors.
Would you tarnish your name for $36M like Jurickson Profar did? pic.twitter.com/oIMGHWjd8M
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 3, 2025
Bob Nightengale suggests Jurickson Profar's 2024 breakout could have been fool's gold
There is a lot of information we don't know here and this sort of speculation can be dangerous. Yes, it is easy to think that anything good a player who tests positive for PEDs does is the result of cheating, but MLB does have a pretty robust testing regimen these days. One would think that if Profar was juicing in 2024 when he posted an .839 OPS, he would have probably been caught when he was with the Padres.
However, it certainly does look pretty suspicious. Profar has been long on talent and short on actual production, but he somehow put together a career year by a wide margin in 2024. It is certainly possible that Profar unlocked a different level with hard work and swing adjustments, but his positive test for chorionic gonadotropin has rightly invited some skepticism and the intrusive thought that the Braves will never get the version of Profar they thought because it was always an illusion.
There is a less insidious, but still rather crappy explanation for what happened with Profar. Over the course of last season, Profar dealt with knee issues that some worried would be a chronic problem. It is possible that Profar underwent a questionable treatment regiment to heal up and prolong his career. One shouldn't take shortcuts and certainly shouldn't use PEDs period, but it is an explanation that gives hope to the possibility that Profar's production on the field wasn't completely fake.
The exact reason why Profar did what he did honestly doesn't matter as it was just wrong. Now, the Braves have a guy under contract through 2027 that fans will likely never embrace and his teammates probably shouldn't trust. The only sliver of hope the Braves have here is that Profar can stay clean and provide some value, although there are doubts that even that could be a big ask.