Former major league catcher Erik Kratz is stirring up controversy, suggesting that Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar’s recent PED suspension might be linked to his former San Diego Padres teammate, Fernando Tatis Jr.
Profar was hit with an 80-game suspension this week after testing positive for chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone that can boost testosterone production. The ruling sidelines him until late June, and under MLB policy, he’ll be ineligible for postseason play.
The 31-year-old outfielder had a breakout year with the Padres in 2023, earning a multi-year deal with the Braves in free agency. Once ranked as baseball’s top overall prospect, Profar’s resurgence had been seen as one of the season’s feel-good stories—until now.
During an episode of the Foul Territory podcast, Kratz took the conversation in a different direction, implying that Profar’s improvement wasn’t purely mechanical.
“You went and worked on your lower half with Fernando Tatis and his dad (Fernando Sr.),” Kratz stated. “Just come out and be honest.”
Kratz pressed further, implying that a lack of transparency only fuels suspicion.
“Let everybody be honest about what happened,” he added. “Because everybody who has ever tested positive comes out and says what it is. And if you don’t want to say it, to me, that assumes more guilt.”
Neither Profar nor the Tatis family has publicly responded to Kratz’s comments.
Tatis Jr. himself was suspended for 80 games in August 2022 after testing positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid. He claimed the substance was in a medication he used to treat ringworm. His father, a former MLB player, never failed a drug test or appeared in the infamous 2007 Mitchell Report.
Profar, Tatis Jr., and former Yankees second baseman Robinson Canó are among the most high-profile players to serve PED suspensions in recent years. Canó, once considered a surefire Hall of Famer, missed 80 games in 2018 and was suspended for the entire 2021 season following a second failed test.
Both Profar and Tatis Jr. now sit one strike away from a 162-game ban should they test positive again. Whether Kratz’s insinuations hold weight remains to be seen, but the conversation surrounding baseball’s ongoing battle with PEDs isn’t fading anytime soon.