Yesterday, Ryan Braun was cleared from his looming 50 game suspension for a positive drug test in which showed he had elevated levels of testosterone; a warning sign of possible use of performance enhancing drugs and/or steroids. By now, we all know some key parts to the story like how the collector didn’t turn in the sample on time, his unusually high levels of testosterone, and more. While we don’t know exactly everything, and we may never, there is one key fact people are failing to ignore.
During Braun’s press conference, he brought up the fact that the Brewers keep tabs of a lot of information like his base running speed, his weight, strength, etc from day one and that none of those levels increased dramatically over time, which would indicate the use of PED’s.
If Braun wanted to use another example indicating he doesn’t use PED’s or steroids could be his injury history. Every year, Braun has had some sort of back or oblique injury that has cost him to miss double digit games. One of the main affects of PED’s and steroids is the recovery time from injuries. While PED’s does increase strength, which is the main side affect people look at, its because PED’s and steroids increase recovery time in muscles. This allows users to work out more and it helps the muscles recover faster from workouts and in turn, increases size in strength.
We all know that Braun isn’t the biggest guy in baseball and he hasn’t gotten huge within a year which would indicate a use of PED’s. But, the fact that Braun has had minor injuries that have caused him to miss double digit games is actually a good example and sign that he doesn’t use PED’s and steroids. If Braun were using any sort of banned substances, one would think that Braun would be able to recover quicker from those minor injuries.
Now, some may argue that he started taking them after his last injury last season. While its possible, Braun and whomever may have consulted him on the substances, would have known that it would of been pointless to take them after the injury, because in order for the substances to work, they have to be in your system at a continuous rate in order to work properly.
While no one wants to suffer injuries, in Braun’s case, his history of minor injuries actually bodes well for him.
-Dan Kasper
Follow Dan on Twitter @dankasper
