Bison banned but not broken
Prospect Pannone says ‘tough times don’t last and tough people do’
It’s easy for Thomas Pannone to picture himself in the big leagues, just as it is easy to understand why the Buffalo Bisons starter can see it.
“That’s what everyone on this field wants, that’s what everyone that plays this game wants, is to get there,” Pannone said last week.
The 24-year-old left-hander came into his first full season as part of the Blue Jays organization ranked as the 26th-best prospect, according to MLB Pipeline. After being traded to Toronto as part of a package deal that saw reliever Joe Smith go to the Cleveland Indians last July, Pannone came into this year expecting to be one of Buffalo’s five starters and to compete with Ryan Borucki as the first to be called up in event of an injury to the Jays rotation.
Fast forward six months and Borucki has earned his spot on Toronto’s staff after injuries. Pannone, on the other hand, only has six starts under his belt with the Bisons; he was suspended for 80 games in mid-March after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, de hydro chl or methyltestosterone.
An archaic anabolic steroid that has resurfaced in the doping word in recent years, DHCMT, as it is more commonly known, had previously been linked to the Jays when former first baseman Chris Colabello tested positive for the substance in 2016.
Like Colabello, Pannone to this day denies ever taking the performance-enhancing drug. In a statement released after the suspension was announced, Pannone said a call from the Major League Baseball Players Association notifying him that the substance was found in his urine sample was “the most shocking phone call of his life.” He said he underwent a threehour polygraph test administered by a former FBI agent, with the results showing he was truthful. He says he passed “with one of the highest scores possible.”
But still, a suspension is a suspension, and Pannone had to rejig his timeline when it comes to a major-league call up.
“Now that I’m one step away … I have to stay focused on what I’m doing here right now,” Pannone said. “I felt like I was trying to catch up, and I think still they want me to get some outings under my belt and see where I’m at. I’m just taking it day by day and trying to improve on what I need to improve on and then hopefully, eventually, one day get my name called.”
The native of Cranston, R.I., had hoped to come into this season and build off last year, when he went 9-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 1142⁄ innings at high 3 Class-A and Double-A. He felt he had developed a three-pitch mix, was getting ahead of hitters and wasn’t walking many guys in 2017.
Even after news of the suspension, Pannone hoped to make the most of his time away from the game. He stayed positive and upbeat for the month of April before it became tough to stay motivated.
“I looked at it every day as, ‘OK, I’m going to go here, I’m going to work on this today. I’m going to work on this today.’ ” he said. “And then all of a sudden I hit a wall like, ‘What am I doing? Why is this happening to me?’ ”
Pannone eventually made his first rehab start in late June and took his spot in Buffalo’s rotation in early July. He is 0-3 with a 4.91 ERA in six starts there, high for a guy who has not finished a year in the minors with an ERA over 4.02 — it’s usually under 3.20 — in the last four seasons. But he has three quality starts for the Bisons and is pleased that he has gone at least six innings in four of six outings.
“The biggest thing is I’m a starting pitcher, I want to get as deep into the game as I possibly can and I’ve done a great job of that this year so far,” he said.
Pannone has tried to embed in his mind that the past is the past. But that is not to say he hasn’t learned from the suspension.
“I just had to keep my mind positive and think: ‘This is a tough time right now but tough times don’t last and tough people do.’ ”