Major League Baseball suspended Cardinals pitcher Deryk Hooker 50 games after he tested positive for "a drug of abuse." MLB did not specify what it was that caused Hooker to test positive.

Hooker had an excellent year in 2008 between the Rookie-level Appalachian League and the low Class A Midwest League. He struck out 73 batters in 65 innings, walking 20 and finishing with a 2.77 ERA. Hooker, 19, is a 6-foot-4, 185-pound righthander and a seventh-round pick in 2007 from Mira Mesa (Calif.) High.