Veteran Betemit among four suspended

Major League veteran Wilson Betemit and Giants Minor League right-hander Ethan Miller were among four players suspended on Monday after testing positive for banned drugs.

Betemit, currently a free agent after spending last season at Triple-A Durham, and Miller both received 50-game suspensions without pay after testing positive for amphetamines. Boston Red Sox Minor League shortstop Ricardo Cubillan earned a 76-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Nandrolone, a performance-enhancing substance, while former Braves first baseman Tanner Norton was handed a 50-game suspension without pay following a second positive test for a drug of abuse.

Betemit and Norton will begin serving their bans once they sign with a Major League organization, while Miller and Cubillan's suspensions are effective at the start of the short-season schedule in June.

Betemit, 33, has enjoyed a long and varied career, appearing in more than 800 Major League games since his debut with Atlanta in 2001. The infielder originally signed with the Braves in 1997 and went on to play for the Dodgers, Yankees, White Sox, Royals, Tigers and Orioles. He spent last year with the Rays, hitting .217 with 18 homers and 50 RBIs in 111 games as an International League All-Star for Triple-A Durham. Betemit was limited in 2013 after suffering a torn right PCL in Spring Training.

Miller, 24, was San Francisco's 22nd-round pick in 2013 out of San Diego State. The 6-foot-5 right-hander is 6-3 with a 4.43 ERA in 22 outings, including 14 starts, over 89 1/3 innings with the Giants' Rookie-level affiliates in Arizona and Salem-Keizer. 

Cubillan, who turned 17 on Feb. 1, signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela on Aug. 29, 2014 and has yet to appear in a Minor League game. Nandrolone, commonly sold as Deca-Durabolin, is an anabolic steroid used to promote muscle growth, bone density and red blood cell production. It's considered a Schedule III controlled substance.

Norton, 19, was Milwaukee's 13th-round pick in 2013 out of Bishop Brossart High School in Kentucky. The lefty-swinging first baseman was released on Jan. 12 after hitting .250 with no home runs, 15 RBIs, three doubles and a .349 on-base percentage in 40 games for the Rookie-level Arizona League Brewers last year. He hit .191 in 30 contests in 2013.

Players are typically issued a warning following a first positive test for a drug of abuse and a suspension for a second offense. Substances considered "drugs of abuse" by Major League Baseball include cocaine, marijuana, heroin, LSD, ecstasy and other opiates.

The Office of the Commissioner has suspended 30 players in 2015 following their violations of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.