Mets' Mazzilli suspended 50 games

New York Mets prospect L.J. Mazzilli has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for a drug of abuse for a second time, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced Tuesday. The punishment goes into effect at the start of the 2015 season.

The release from the commissioner's office did not specify the particular drug that Mazzilli tested for in this instance. Major League Baseball defines "drugs of abuse" as marijuana, hashish, cocaine, LSD, heroine and ecstasy, among others, per the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Players are given warnings upon a first positive test with a 50-game suspension coming after a second positive test and a 100-game ban after a third. By comparison, performance-enhancing drug suspensions immediately start at 50 games.

Mazzilli, son of former Major Leaguer and Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli, was a fourth-round pick by the Mets in 2013 out of the University of Connecticut. The second baseman largely split his first full season between Class A Savannah and Class A Advanced St. Lucie and produced a .301/.361/.440 line with 11 homers, four triples and 29 doubles in 131 Minor League contests in 2014.

The Mets sent the 24-year-old to the Arizona Fall League this autumn, and he put up a .306/.433/.469 line with a homer, a triple and three doubles in 15 games with Scottsdale.

Mazzilli is the the 58th Minor League player to be suspended this year.