Mike Trout: PED users should be banned from baseball

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout says PED users should be banned from the game. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Add Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout to the list of baseball players who thinks that anyone caught using performance-enhancing drugs should get stiffer penalties than the ones Major League Baseball currently hands out.

Twelve players received 50-game bans for their roles in connection to Biogenesis, a former health clinic that MLB investigated for distributing PEDs.  Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game suspension, and New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez received a 211-game ban but is appealing that decision.

“To me personally, I think you should be out of the game if you get caught,” Trout told WFAN Radio on Monday. “It takes away from the guys that are working hard every day and doing it all-natural.”

Trout, who was last season's American League Rookie of the Year, is batting .330 with 20 home runs and 73 RBI this season.  He also has a .425 on-base percentage and 26 stolen bases.

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“Some people are just trying to find that extra edge,” Trout said. “It’s tough as a guy that goes out there and plays hard every day and puts 110-percent effort (in) every time. And then you wake up the next day and you see there’s a list of guys that are, you know, on the list. It’s good that MLB caught them and they are moving in the right direction with suspensions and stuff.”