Sawt Falasteen - MLB suspends free agent pitcher Martinez for 85 games

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MLB suspends free agent pitcher Martinez for 85 games
MLB suspends free agent pitcher Martinez for 85 games / Photo: JAMIE SQUIRE - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

MLB suspends free agent pitcher Martinez for 85 games

Major League Baseball issued an 85-game suspension to free agent pitcher Carlos Martinez on Thursday for violating the league's domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.

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The ban, retroactive to June 19, requires Martinez to participate in a confidential and comprehensive evaluation and treatment program supervised by the policy board before he can be reinstated.

The 30-year-old Dominican right-hander last pitched in the major leagues for St. Louis last year.

Details of his violation were not revealed. It was the fourth-longest ban issued under the policy since it was created in 2015 under a joint agreement between MLB and its players union.

Martinez had also been suspended for 80 games in May after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances under minor-league baseball's drug program.

He had signed minor-league deals with San Francisco and Boston, being released from both.

Martinez played for the Cardinals from 2013-2021 and was named an All-Star in 2015 and 2017. He has an MLB career record of 62-52 with a 3.74 earned-run average and 927 strikeouts.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST