New York, NY – Major League Baseball issued a 50-game suspension to Baltimore Orioles prospect Billy Rowell on Monday.
For Rowell, who was the club's top selection in the 2006 first-year player draft, the ban came as a result of his second violation of baseball's minor league drug prevention and treatment program.
The 6-foot-5 Rowell played his high school baseball in suburban Philadelphia. A four-year starter at Bishop Eustice Prep in Pennsauken, New Jersey, Rowell batted .505 with 157 RBI in 103 games.
He hit just .243 with one home run, eight doubles and 18 RBI in 58 combined games with Baltimore's Gulf Coast and Double-A affiliates last season.
The ban will begin at the start of the New York-Penn League's Aberdeen IronBirds' season, effective June 18.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.