NEW YORK -- Cardinals catcher Cody Stanley was suspended Saturday for 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
Stanley, 26, spent most of this season at Triple-A Memphis, but was promoted to St. Louis when major league rosters expanded on Sept. 1. It is the seventh suspension announced this year under the big league program.
Major League Baseball said Stanley tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, and the suspension is effective immediately.
"It is an embarrassment for the organization to have to talk about but you can't help thinking about the kid," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "I do believe in the system. I'm a big advocate for testing. It is for the good of the game. But there is a human component to it."
Stanley went 4 for 10 with three RBI in nine games with the NL Central leaders. He also was suspended for 50 games in March 2012 for testing positive for Methylhexaneamine and Tamoxifen, violating baseball's minor league drug program.
"He was taking a supplement and gave the league a sample of it," Matheny said of the 2012 punishment. "There were a couple ingredients that weren't on the list at the time but later put on the list. He served the suspension."
