Montas opens up about his PED suspension
MESA, ARIZ. >> Frankie Montas first thought about his family. His mother, Grissel, and father, Francisco were counting on their 26-year-old son to send money back home to the Dominican Republic. How much would nearly three months with no pay impact his loved ones?
Then, Montas thought about his friends, his teammates. Until that dark June day, Montas was the Oakland A’s brightest hope, a welcome surprise. A fractured rotation found its foundation in Montas after he put up a 2.70 ERA, a career-high 103 strikeouts in 15 starts.
That was the day MLB handed down a 80-game suspension to Montas, a penalty for testing positive for Osterine, a banned performance enhancing drug.
“I was shocked, sad,” Montas said recently. “I wasn’t feeling good at all.”
Montas’ locker in Oakland was emptied that morning. The team’s postseason quest suddenly thrown a devastating curveball.
The A’s moved on. They had to. But Montas had to stop, reflect, and — for another time in his career — prove himself again.
Montas returned to his home in Arizona to begin serving his suspension. He couldn’t bear to watch the games. He secluded himself with his wife, Nicholette, and four-year-old son, Michael. Save for a few texts and calls with Mike Fiers, he didn’t keep contact with any of his teammates because he didn’t want to be a distraction.
“He knows he made a mis
take, and everyone makes mistakes,” Fiers said. “It was tough to see that, you saw how much he helped the team. We were friends before that, we’re friends now. That’s not going to take our friendship away.”
After a few weeks, Montas worked up the courage to view his social media accounts. He opened up his Instagram and Twitter accounts to hundreds of direct message requests. He bore down and read through them all.
Montas was unfazed by
the harsh comments. Why anyone cared enough to wish death on him seemed baffling.
“They think they can hurt you with letters. They think they can make you think different because they’re mean to you and trying to bully you,” Montas said. “If you need to feel happy by talking s*** to other people, you have issues. My life is that important, bro? You take all this time to message me?”
There also was an outpouring of positive messages. Messages that urged Montas to bounce back. That they forgave him. That they knew he had just made
a mistake.
So, was it just a mistake? Montas nods ‘yes.’ He says he mistakenly consumed Osterine outside of the A’s clubhouse confines, so the team was unaware of the supplement it was included in. Osterine is an illegal substance, not yet approved by the FDA, that is often included in bodybuilding supplements.
Now he heads into the season with his time served, although under a wary eye.
Montas vows to be more cautious about what he puts in his body. He wants off the roller-coaster that brings him back to points in which he must prove himself again.
Montas returned to the
field once more in September and looked like he’d never left, dealing a six-inning game against the Anaheim Angels.
After that, he felt at peace enough to watch baseball. He watched his team get crushed in the wild card game. The A’s were down, but have never been farther from out.
“This year is going to be our year to win the division, I believe so,” Montas said. “I believe in every guy in this clubhouse. As a team, we’re young, but we learned a lot the past two years, and every year we’re better.”
Montas, too.