Duke von Schamann suspended for 50 games

David Monseur, Akron RubberDucks

Duke von Schamann suspended for 50 games by MLB

Major League Baseball has done anything and everything in it’s power to rid the game of drugs, both the recreational and performance enhancing varieties. Through some of the most strict series of tests in professional sports today, MLB has nailed abusers left and right, despite all of the warnings and lectures about doing things the right way.

Thanks to this strict testing, the Indians will be minus one of their talented young pitching prospects for the first 50 games of the 2015 minor league season.

Duke von Schamann, the 6-5, 220-pound right-hander was found to be in violation of the minor-league drug prevention and treatment program for the second time. As a result, he will be forced to sit out 50 games. It is unclear what he tested positive for at this time.

During the 2014 season, von Schamann went 8-8  in 24 appearances (20 starts) with a 4.20 ERA for the Akron Rubberducks. He also made two starts for Triple-A Columbus and went 1-0 with a 6.52 ERA. Von Schamann hasn’t exactly been a dynamo during the early stages of his minor league career as he is 27-19 with a 6.75 ERA.

From a practical sense, this doesn’t appear to impact the Indians very much. Von Schamann was not expected to be anywhere close to having an impact with the Indians in the 2015 season. From that standpoint, his absence should barely be noticed. However, given the lack of big league ready starting pitching talent in the minors right now for the Indians, von Schamann might have just pissed away a potential opportunity, literally.

Von Schamann was a 15^th round draft pick of the Dodgers in 2012 out of Texas Tech University. The Indians acquired von Schamann last season in a trade that involved lefty Colt Hynes.