NEW YORK -- Washington catcher Raudy Read has been suspended for the first 80 games of the season following a positive test for Boldenone under Major League Baseball's drug-testing program.
The commissioner's office announced the discipline Wednesday, after it was upheld by arbitrator Mark Irvings.
Read signed with the Nationals in 2011 and made his big league debut last September, going 3 for 11 (.273) in eight games. He said he was tested seven times last year.
"I have never in my life knowingly used a banned substance," he said in a statement released by the players' association.