PORT CHARLOTTE — Tuesday’s first pitch was less than an hour away, and Jurickson Profar was still in the Team Netherlands lineup, playing left field and batting leadoff, when news broke that the Curacao native had, yet again, tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Upon hearing the news, Profar abruptly departed Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., leaving his World Baseball Classic teammates stunned and his coaching staff scrambling.
“I heard of it 10 minutes before we started the game,” manager Andruw Jones said. “On our side, it was disappointing because we were counting highly on him to be a part of this team for this tournament.”
Profar is expected to appeal his suspension, but because this is his second positive test, he’s not allowed to play during the appeal process (first-time offenders remain active during appeal). The suspension extends to the WBC, making Profar ineligible for the tournament.
“This is a grown-man business,” Jones said. “He’s not a kid, and everybody knows the rules. They know how many tests they’re doing, what you can take and what you cannot take. So, after that, I can’t tell you what he’s done or not. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him because he left right away.”
The Atlanta Braves were off on Tuesday but released a statement saying the organization was “incredibly disappointed.” The Braves signed Profar last winter to a three-year, $42-million contract, but he was suspended just four games into last season. He returned to play in the second half and had a 121 OPS+ as the team’s primary leadoff hitter and left fielder. The Braves built their team this offseason expecting Profar to play a similar role.
“There will be opportunities created because of this,” Braves manager Walt Weiss told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s not something that we would choose, but that’s where we’re at.”
The Braves have the rest of spring training to adjust. Team Netherlands had a matter of minutes to figure things out on Tuesday.
Jones inserted 31-year-old Ray-Patrick Didder, who spent last season playing independent ball, as his new left fielder and leadoff hitter. Didder promptly homered in his first at-bat, kicking off a 3-for-5 afternoon. Little surprise, Didder was in the leadoff spot again on Wednesday. Team Netherlands was allowed to fill Profar’s spot on the roster and added 21-year-old Jakey Josepha out of the Arizona Diamondbacks system. Josepha has never played above A ball. He will fill Profar’s roster spot, but not his role in the lineup.
“I told the team, we’re very disappointed — they are disappointed about it — but we have to move on,” Jones said. “We’re going to treat it as he got hurt. Somebody else step up.”
Team Netherlands is made largely of players from Curacao and Aruba, many of whom have known one another since childhood. Profar’s little brother Juremi is still on the team. Jones laughed on Wednesday about how often his players talk about facing one another in Little League.
Now, one of them is gone. The Braves might hope for good news in Profar’s appeal, but Team Netherlands has no choice but to move on without him.
“Our goal is to win this tournament,” Jones said. “And we’re not going to change.”
