Brewers' Bickford among three suspended

NEW YORK -- Brewers No. 5 prospect Phil Bickford and two other Minor Leaguers were suspended on Friday after testing positive for banned substances.

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball said Bickford and Miami Marlins Minor League outfielder Casey Soltis received 50-game suspensions without pay following their second positive tests for a drug of abuse. Toronto Blue Jays Minor League right-handed pitcher Pedro Loficial was suspended for 72 games without pay after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

All three will begin serving their suspensions at the start of the 2017 season.

Bickford, 21, was the No. 18 pick in the 2015 Draft and received a $2.3 million signing bonus from San Francisco before he was traded to Milwaukee along with Andrew Susac in exchange for Will Smith at the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline. He went 7-7 with a 2.93 ERA in 23 games across both organizations and three affiliates this year, striking out 135 batters in 120 innings, mostly with Class A Augusta before finishing the year with Class A Advanced Brevard County.

Bickford previously tested positive for marijuana before he was drafted by the Giants in June 2015, according to MLB.com. The Commissioner's Office does not disclose what substances players test positive for in regards to drugs of abuse suspensions.

Soltis hit .190 with a homer and 10 RBIs in 52 games with Class A Greensboro this past season. The 21-year-old lefty was the Marlins' fifth-round selection in the 2014 Draft and has appeared in 100 Minor League games over three seasons.

Loficial, also 21, went 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA and four strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings this past year with Toronto's Rookie-level Dominican Summer League affiliate. He appeared in just three games in August after signing with the team on July 23.

Major League Baseball has handed out 93 suspensions to 92 players this year for violations of the Minor League drug program.