In light of Jurickson Profar's PED suspension, where do the outfielder and the Braves go from here?

Major League Baseball has issued an 80-game suspension to Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, the league announced Monday. The 32-year-old left fielder tested positive for chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone typically involved in fertility and the production of testosterone.

It’s crushing news for both Profar and the Braves, who commenced their 2025 season with four punchless losses to the San Diego Padres, Profar’s former team.

Universally considered the sport’s top prospect upon his debut with the Texas Rangers in 2012, Profar never lived up to the hype as a franchise-changing force. Instead, he settled into a career as a middling offensive player with useful defensive versatility. As he aged, however, he stopped moving around the diamond and became an every-day left fielder.

Heading into 2024, the Curacaoan inked a one-year deal with the Padres that included just $1 million guaranteed. Profar then went on to deliver a career year, in which he smashed 24 home runs, started the All-Star Game in left field, won a Silver Slugger and finished the season as the seventh-most valuable outfielder in MLB by fWAR.

That eyebrow-raising season earned him a hefty raise this past winter from the Braves, who handed Profar a three-year deal worth $42 million. Then Atlanta’s biggest offseason acquisition appeared in just four games before the lawman came calling. Profar will be suspended, without pay, until early June. He will also be forbidden from appearing in any playoff games, should the Braves reach the 2025 postseason.

Frankly, it’s difficult, given the timing, not to connect the dots between Profar’s PED suspension and his outlier 2024 season. He had always showcased strong swing decisions, but his batted-ball data took a massive leap last year. In fact, among qualified hitters, Profar had the single largest year-over-year jump in hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity, according to Statcast.

Unfortunately, given the news of his positive test, that improvement now looks incredibly suspect.

Profar is the first MLB player to be suspended for ...