Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar will miss the entire 2026 season after his appeal of a positive test for performance-enhancing drugs was resolved.
Profar will serve a 162-game suspension for testing positive a second time and will be ineligible for postseason play in 2026.
Major League Baseball announced earlier this month that Profar tested positive for exogenous testosterone and its metabolites. He is the sixth player to receive a 162-game ban for PED use since MLB increased the penalty for two-time offenders to a full season in 2014.
Profar, 33, will forfeit the entirety of his $15 million salary for 2026. He was expected to rotate regularly in Atlanta’s starting lineup between the outfield and designated hitter, perhaps as the No. 2 hitter behind Ronald Acuña Jr.
Atlanta signed Profar to a three-year, $42 million contract in January 2025 after he had a career year with the San Diego Padres.
An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”
Profar’s 2025 suspension came following the fourth game of the season and after returning in early July, he hit .245/.353/.434 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs while playing left field.
Braves first-year manager Walt Weiss said earlier this month that he expects Atlanta’s DH spot to be “fairly fluid” this season without Profar.
Weiss said he feels “really good” that the Braves signed left fielder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two-year deal in the offseason. Yastrzemski, Acuña and Michael Harris are expected to be Atlanta’s starting outfielders. Profar might have shared time with Yastrzemski in left field on days star catcher Drake Baldwin is the DH.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
