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Pro Baseball Player Struggles With Oxycontin Addiction
Marlins learn from Allison pick
By Joe Capozzi, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Taylor Tankersley, Florida's top pick in the June draft, is a versatile left-hander who can pitch effectively as a starter or reliever. But what might have been most attractive to the Marlins is the fact that Tankersley is a 21-year-old junior at the University of Alabama.
In other words, not only is Tankersley talented, but he's also mature and has good makeup, which is a sticky topic these days in Marlinsland given the recent admissions by Florida's top pick from last year's draft.
Jeff Allison, the Marlins' top pitching prospect, told New England Cable News on June 13 that he failed a Major League Baseball-administered drug test for marijuana and acknowledged past abuse of the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
Allison, 19, was placed on the restricted list May 6 after he left the Marlins' Jupiter Class A team without permission. He doesn't expect to return until mid-July at the earliest.
Facing the unknown
No one is faulting the Marlins for picking Allison without realizing his fragile makeup. Rather, his case illustrates the difficulty in knowing everything about a potential prospect.
Dan Jennings, Florida's vice president for player personnel, knows that from his days with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 1999, the Rays had the top pick in the draft. Instead of choosing Josh Beckett, they chose Josh Hamilton, a promising outfielder who is fighting drug problems that have him on a one-year suspension from baseball.
"We try to go in depth, talk to coaches. If they're a high school kid, we're going to talk to counselors, people in the community. The higher the pick, the more we do,'' said Jim Fleming, Florida's vice president for player development.
The Marlins never saw Allison's problems coming.
"When I was down in Florida, I had got myself into a little mix-up. Everyone thinks it had to do with drugs... and it did,'' Allison said in the TV interview. "I got myself caught up in something stupid. Now I'm trying to get out of it.''
The right-hander from Peabody, Mass., said he realized in November that he had a problem with OxyContin, a highly addictive medication. He entered a rehab program but didn't get anything from it. He left for Florida in January and "fell into the hole again.''
He said there were times last season when he questioned whether he wanted to play pro baseball. "I wasn't loving the game anymore,'' he told the TV station.
Allison said he forfeited at least $200,000 of his $1.85 million signing bonus to the Marlins because he failed an MLB-administered drug test.
"That money did change my life," he said. "I thought it would change my life for the better, but no, it changed my life for the worse so far,'' he said.
"I don't have a problem, and I haven't for a while.''
Marlins officials wouldn't comment on Allison. But they emphasized that they do extensive checking on young prospects.
"Every player we're going to take in the top 10 rounds, we've been in there homes, we've talked to parents, we've talked to coaches,'' Fleming said.
"You do have a better feel for high school kids now than I'd say you did 10 years ago, but still, they're more volatile because of their age, so you try to do more.''
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Marlins learn from Allison pick
By Joe Capozzi, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Taylor Tankersley, Florida's top pick in the June draft, is a versatile left-hander who can pitch effectively as a starter or reliever. But what might have been most attractive to the Marlins is the fact that Tankersley is a 21-year-old junior at the University of Alabama.
In other words, not only is Tankersley talented, but he's also mature and has good makeup, which is a sticky topic these days in Marlinsland given the recent admissions by Florida's top pick from last year's draft.
Jeff Allison, the Marlins' top pitching prospect, told New England Cable News on June 13 that he failed a Major League Baseball-administered drug test for marijuana and acknowledged past abuse of the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
Allison, 19, was placed on the restricted list May 6 after he left the Marlins' Jupiter Class A team without permission. He doesn't expect to return until mid-July at the earliest.
Facing the unknown
No one is faulting the Marlins for picking Allison without realizing his fragile makeup. Rather, his case illustrates the difficulty in knowing everything about a potential prospect.
Dan Jennings, Florida's vice president for player personnel, knows that from his days with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 1999, the Rays had the top pick in the draft. Instead of choosing Josh Beckett, they chose Josh Hamilton, a promising outfielder who is fighting drug problems that have him on a one-year suspension from baseball.
"We try to go in depth, talk to coaches. If they're a high school kid, we're going to talk to counselors, people in the community. The higher the pick, the more we do,'' said Jim Fleming, Florida's vice president for player development.
The Marlins never saw Allison's problems coming.
"When I was down in Florida, I had got myself into a little mix-up. Everyone thinks it had to do with drugs... and it did,'' Allison said in the TV interview. "I got myself caught up in something stupid. Now I'm trying to get out of it.''
The right-hander from Peabody, Mass., said he realized in November that he had a problem with OxyContin, a highly addictive medication. He entered a rehab program but didn't get anything from it. He left for Florida in January and "fell into the hole again.''
He said there were times last season when he questioned whether he wanted to play pro baseball. "I wasn't loving the game anymore,'' he told the TV station.
Allison said he forfeited at least $200,000 of his $1.85 million signing bonus to the Marlins because he failed an MLB-administered drug test.
"That money did change my life," he said. "I thought it would change my life for the better, but no, it changed my life for the worse so far,'' he said.
"I don't have a problem, and I haven't for a while.''
Marlins officials wouldn't comment on Allison. But they emphasized that they do extensive checking on young prospects.
"Every player we're going to take in the top 10 rounds, we've been in there homes, we've talked to parents, we've talked to coaches,'' Fleming said.
"You do have a better feel for high school kids now than I'd say you did 10 years ago, but still, they're more volatile because of their age, so you try to do more.''
Link
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