The unfortunate case of L.J. Mazzilli

Back in late November Mets360’s own Scott Ferguson wrote about L.J. Mazzilli, who ranked 30th on our list of prospects. In case you haven’t already seen it, you can read that full breakdown here. Mazzilli had a very promising 2014 season in which he posted a .301/.361/.440 line with 44 extra-base hits split evenly between two levels of high-A ball. He even received a late-season promotion to Las Vegas for a game. Some comments on our rankings thought Mazzilli should have been higher, and that seemed even more warranted after his Arizona Fall League performance when he put up .306/.433/.469 line.

Mazzilli was doing so well that batting coach Val Pascucci stated,

“He’s a really good hitter. He’s got great hands when he doesn’t try to do too much. When he stays within himself, he’s got a good approach to the plate. He doesn’t give away at-bats. He goes up and he battles, especially with two strikes. He lays off some close pitches. So he knows the strike zone pretty well. He’s got a little more pop I think than people really think he does. When he turns those hard line drives, they get some backspin and end up as home runs.”

All seemed to be going right.

Then came a terrible early Christmas gift on December 23rd; two positive drug tests for a “drug of abuse.” Now Mazzilli is staring at a 50-game suspension to start off his 2015 season. To be clear, a “drug of abuse” under the MLB Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program is one of the following: cocaine metabolites, opiates/metabolites, phencyclicdine (PCP) or cannabinoids. It would be unfair of us to assume what drug was used, or to what level of abuse. All we know is that Mazzilli has been caught, and is now being punished for it.

As usual when these things happen, both Mazzilli and his father Lee issued statements of regret and apology, and the younger man is seeking counseling. Whether he has a legitimate problem or simply smoke a joint with friends one night is neither here nor there. As representatives of organizations and the league as a whole, players are held to high standards, and when you deviate from those standards, the punishment is severe. As Mazzilli stands to be the second-best second baseman prospect in the Mets minors, missing almost a third of a season due to nothing but bad decision-making is tough to swallow. But such is the case for being paid to play a game.

The Mets have had plenty of history with players losing time due to drug problems, and therein lies the real reason for Mazzilli’s punishment. None of the drugs mentioned above are really “performance enhancing.” Maybe cocaine will help you sprint through a leg injury suffered on the basepaths, but the damage will still be done. An opiate might alleviate that twinge in your shoulder, but you’re still not going to be able to swing correctly. These are drugs that do more damage off the field than on. Whether cannabinoids deserve to be lumped into this group, as it is now bought and sold legally in Colorado and Washington is a separate matter. However, cannabis is still a Schedule 1 drug according to the United States government, and so Major League Baseball must treat it as such.

The unfortunate outcome is that Mazzilli is being treated like a cheater, when all he did is make a bad choice in his private time. The rub is that he made a mistake with a substance that was collectively bargained over, whereas Todd Helton’s DUI in 2013 was never punished by the Colorado Rockies, or the league. Many players and coaches have received the same lax treatment for identical crimes. Alex Remington at Fangraphs did a nice piece two years ago about the subject, and offers a helpful suggestion on DUIs in particular. And this all leads to the unfortunate reminder of Oscar Taveras, who died while driving drunk just months ago. This article certainly cannot offer a definitive solution about what defines abuse, or how best to punish the abusers. It’s a murky subject.

This seems to be the larger question hanging over MLB’s head, and it’s regarding cheating versus having a legitimate substance problem. The use of steroids is cheating, because it improves a player’s abilities on the field and assists in faster healing. There is evidence that they may be addictive as well, but their primary use is to improve on-field performance. Conversely, drugs of abuse are typically not going to make you do anything better on the field, but could severely impact a player’s off-the-field life choices. There are players who might get wasted every night for all we know, but because they’re not getting arrested for it, it’s not a problem for the MLB. Lumping “drugs of abuse” into the same punishment bracket as steroids doesn’t seem to be just, but as usual baseball is slow to acclimate to questions with no clear answers.

This lack of definition and separation puts young men like Mazzilli is a very difficult situation. He faces a strict punishment for his transgressions. After all, he knew the rules and he broke them. But should there be something else for guys who have a problem overcoming personal issues? Maybe it’s suspension until a rehab stint is complete. Maybe all players signed with a team or any of its affiliates should be required to partake in a mentoring program. Would Darryl Strawberry or Doc Gooden have avoided drug problems had they had better guidances as young men tempted by money and fame? We will never know, and we can’t rewrite the past, unfortunately. MLB has taken some steps to help players with anxiety disorders. Are dependency disorders the next logical step?

The only thing that is for sure is that Mazzilli will suffer for his mistake, no matter if this is a lifelong struggle, or a one time goof. Major League Baseball has been great at snuffing out the cheaters of the game, but doing little for some that cheat themselves. Things certainly won’t change because of Mazzilli, and might not even change because of Taveras, sadly. But when baseball finally made the decision to wade into the deep end and started banning substances, it did so without a life preserver. It, like some of its players, is struggling to stay afloat.