Baseball hands out 50-game drug suspension

New York -- Former major leaguer Humberto Cota received a 50-game suspension Wednesday for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

The catcher currently plays for the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox in the Pacific Coast League, but the penalty came under major league baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

It was announced by the office of major league commissioner Bud Selig without any corresponding reason.

There was no comment on the suspension from anyone.

In 2007, Cota played in five games for the Pittsburgh Pirates, hitting .286 in 14 at-bats.

He played for the Pirates for parts of seven seasons and in his entire major league career, he has 12 home runs and 61 RBI in 196 games.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.