Rays prospect Sale suspended after strip club shenanigans

Published On May 30, 2013 | By Sarah Kirkpatrick

Josh Sale, the first round draft pick in 2010 for the Tampa Bay Rays, has been suspended indefinitely for detrimental conduct, the team announced Wednesday.

Sale just served a 50-game suspension for testing positive for methamphetamine and an amphetamine, but the new ban came after Sale posted on Facebook about his actions at a strip club, the Tampa Bay Times said.

“Threw 50 cents at a stripper tonight. First time. Got kicked out and she got so (mad) thought she was gonna cry. Your a stripper. Be thankful,” Sale said on Facebook.

Sale, 21, was playing for the Class-A Charlotte Stone Crabs. During two seasons with the Tampa Bay organization, Sale is hitting .238 and has 14 homers and 59 RBIs in 134 games.

He was the 17th overall pick in the 2010 draft and signed for $1.62 million after scouts were impressed by his power. He didn’t play in 2010 and hit .210 in 2011. In his second season, he hit .264 with 10 homers, 44 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .391 until his year ended early thanks to the PED suspension. Now his third season will be delayed further.

Sale is not the only player in the Rays organization to receive a suspension in the past year: 22 players in the minor league system have been suspended, with the most recent suspension being handed to right-handed pitcher Angel Yepez. Yepez, who was on the roster of the Venezuelan Summer League Rays, was sent home for 50 games after testing positive for metabolites of Nandrolone.

Comments are closed.

About The Author

Sarah is a Seattle native studying journalism at Boston University. She covers track and field, cross country and women’s hockey and is Sports Editor at The Daily Free Press, BU’s independent student newspaper. You can follow her on Twitter at @Kirkpatrick_SJ.