from Amazon
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Overturning a positive test
It’s happened.
Katin, 28, was told he would be suspended for 50 games, and he appealed the findings. Two months after he got that phone call the suspension was overturned, making him the only ballplayer who has successfully appealed. Katin is hoping his former University of Miami teammate, Ryan Braun, will be the second.
In Katin’s case, his first sample came back with a high level of testosterone.
“They assumed I was on something,” he said.
In 2007 in the Minor Leagues, players would submit two urine samples—marked “A” and “B.” Katin was notified that he tested positive for high levels of testosterone, and he said the “B” sample was then tested for synthetic drugs. It came back negative. Now, if a player has a high level, Major League Baseball will automatically test for synthetic drugs before contacting the player.
In Braun’s case, they did test for synthetic drugs (presumably from the A sample). It’s unclear what they are going to test for in the B sample, other than the exact same thing. Unless the B sample is somehow not representative of the A sample, and if they perform the same tests, the margin of error would, presumably, be pretty narrow in Braun’s case.