American Athlete Taking Finasteride Fails Drug Test in Japan

From the Associated Press:

A former Triple-A pitcher from California has become the first player in Japanese baseball history to flunk a drug test.

Rick Guttormson, who played in the San Diego and Seattle minor league systems, was suspended for 20 days Friday after testing positive for a banned substance. His team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, was fined $63,000.

Japanese baseball officials said a postgame test July 13 showed Finasteride in Guttormson’s system. Finasteride was in a hair-growing agent the 30-year-old Guttormson had been taking for two years. It’s banned because it can be used as a masking agent.

Read the full article here — American pitcher becomes first player to fail drug test in Japan