Jenrry Mejia, the Mets closer who became the first player in Major League Baseball to be barred for life for using performance-enhancing drugs, has been conditionally reinstated.
Rob Manfred, the commissioner of baseball, announced on Friday that Mejia, who received the lifetime ban in 2016 after a third failed drug test, could play again in 2019, provided he behaved.
Mejia, who recorded 28 saves for the Mets in 2014, has appeared in only seven games over the last four seasons. He will be allowed to begin workouts under the team’s supervision after the All-Star Break this month and to start a minor league rehabilitation assignment in mid-August.