Reliever Landon Hughes, a Marietta native who was the Braves’ seventh-round pick in last year’s June draft, was hit with a 68-game suspension Thursday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
The right-hander was released by the Braves two weeks ago.
His suspension was announced by the office of the baseball commissioner, which said the now-free agent pitcher was suspended after testing positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone.
Hughes, 23, was released Jan. 25 after making 16 relief appearances in 2017. The former Georgia Southern pitcher allowed two hits, two runs (one earned) and three walks in 1 1/3 innings of his only outing at low Single-A Rome and had a 1.69 ERA in 15 games for rookie-league Danville with 27 strikeouts, five walks and 16 hits in 21 1/3 innings.
