The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Tampa Bay Rays Minor League player Matthew Walker has received a 50-game suspension for testing positive for an amphetamine, a performance-enhancing substance, in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

The suspension of Walker will be effective immediately. Walker is currently with Single-A Vero Beach of the Florida State League.

Since mandatory drug testing was instituted, a total of 182 suspensions have been doled out across baseball for a total of 5,725 games. 

The following is a summary of drug violations, based upon The Biz of Baseball's detailed Drug Violations page:

2008

2 major leaguers

* 2  - PEDs

 * Eliezer Alfonzo was part of the Giants 40-man roster, but at the time of the suspension was playing at Triple-A Fresno.

* Cota was penalized under the major league drug program, even though he has not been on a major league roster since last June 15, when he was released by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The reason he was covered by the major league plan rather than the minor league program wasn't announced.

9 minor leaguers

4  - PEDs

1 - Amphetamines

1  - Failure to Test

1  - Human Growth Hormone

1  - Stanozolol Metabolites

1 - Drug of Abuse 

2007

8 major leaguers

5 - PEDs

3 - Stimulants (Neifi Perez twice)

29 minor leaguers

17 - PEDs

2 - Failure to Test

8 - Drug of Abuse

2 - Unknown (not identifed by MLB in release)

2006

3 major leaguers

3 - PEDs

24 minor leaguers

21 PEDs

3 - Drug of Abuse

6 Venezuelan Summer League

6 - PEDs

2005

12 major leaguers

12 - PEDs

90 minor leaguers

90 - PEDs

Source: Major League Baseball. Business of Sports Network research

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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer.

Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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