It seems like former Cyclone and current
Mets farmhand Jorge Reyes hasn’t learned his lesson yet.
After getting nailed for a fifty-game suspension
during the 2005 season for testing positive for an undisclosed performance enhancer while in Brooklyn, the 6’4 right-handed
pitcher tested positive again for an illegal performance enhancing substance last week while pitching for the Mets Single-A
affiliate in Savannah, where he was 1-0 with five scoreless innings to his credit.
Armed with a mid-90’s fastball, Reyes
showed flashes of brilliance while in Brooklyn,
despite going 5-9 in 20 combined starts in 2005 and 2006.
“He has the power to blow pitches
by hitters and has awesome stuff,” said former Cyclones manager George Greer after one of Reyes’s starts last
season.
Regardless of the youngster’s promise
however, after his second suspension in two years, the 23-year old from the Dominican Republic
will have to wait until next season before he can throw off a mound again.
One of two players in the Mets organization
over the past two weeks to be suspended for violating the league’s drug policy, Mets general manager Omar Minaya had
no sympathy for Reyes or Lino Urdaneta, the other player in the organization that was suspended.
"The policy seems to be working right
now," Minaya told MLB.com, after news of Urdaneta’s suspension was made public yesterday, "because these cheats are
getting caught."