Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas of San Francisco de Macoris, Dominican Republic has been suspended 80 games for testing positive for a banned substance according to the Associated Press on Tuesday. Rojas is one of two Major League Baseball players to be suspended this week. The other was Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar of Willemstad, Curacao, who was suspended a full season (162 games) for a second failed drug test.
There are now reports that Rojas plans to appeal the suspension. As a result, Rojas will no longer be competing at the World Baseball Classic for his native country of the Dominican Republic. The five Dominican outfielders on the roster are Oneil Cruz of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners, Junior Lake of Mexico’s Toros de Tijuana, Juan Soto of the New York Mets, and Fernando Tatis of the San Diego Padres. The bottom line is the Dominican Republic outfield is completely stacked and Rojas would have barely played anyways.
The Dominican Republic are in Pool D of the World Baseball Classic alongside Venezuela, the Netherlands, Israel and Nicaragua. The 20-team tournament begins on Thursday with the first game featuring Taiwan versus Australia from Tokyo.
Rojas has played the last three seasons with the Phillies. In 71 games, 152 at bats and 172 plate appearances in 2025, he batted .224 with one home run and 18 runs batted in. Rojas also scored 23 runs and had 34 hits, three doubles, two triples, 12 stolen bases, 13 walks, 44 total bases, three sacrifice flies, an on base percentage of .280 and a slugging percentage of .289. Rojas’s home run came in a 7-6 Phillies win over the Washington Nationals on April 29.
