Minor Leaguers Rutledge And Smith Each Suspended 50 Games

Two Minor League pitchers were suspended fifty games each on Friday as part of a violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

The suspended players are the Baltimore Orioles’ relief pitcher Lex Rutledge and Arizona Diamondbacks’ left-handed pitcher Cameron Smith.

This was the second offense for the twenty-four year old Rutledge who has had  an interesting pro ball career so far. He was drafted by the Orioles in the 2012 MLB Draft in the sixth round while playing at Samford University. He played seventy-four games in three years in the Orioles’ system with a 9-10 record and a 3.42 ERA. In January 2015 he retired from baseball and on February 4, 2016 revived his baseball career by signing back on with the Orioles but, now it seems that the revitalization is temporarily preempted as Rutledge serves his suspension. Before being suspended, Rutledge was assigned to the Class-A Frederick Keys.

The twenty-three year old Smith was drafted by the D-Backs in the 36th Round of the 2015 MLB Draft while playing  at Texas Tech University. He had a stellar first year in pro ball and was even named a Pioneer League All-Star where he went 7-1 in thirteen appearances with the Missoula Osprey along with a 1.68 ERA; striking out an impressive sixty-two batters in 53.2 inning pitched.

Suspensions won’t start until the player’s respective seasons begin, case in point, rookie summer league play doesn’t start until June so a suspension wouldn’t begin until then delaying a player’s season even longer.