MLB investigating Yankees' Ivan Nova
ESPN.com news services
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball is investigating New York Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova and a former minor league teammate for allegedly injecting each other with B-12 shots, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Associated Press.
The person spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity because MLB is not discussing the matter publicly.
The New York Post first reported the investigation, saying that baseball was looking into whether Nova and pitcher Wilkin De La Rosa injected each other last season while they were teammates with Double-A Trenton.
"I didn't use it," Nova told the Post. "No comment. I was surprised."
B-12 is not on baseball's list of banned substances, but the Post said MLB is focused on the issue of whether the players injected each other and wants to make certain the shots were in fact B-12.
The person who spoke to the AP confirmed those details.
Nova is scheduled to start Sunday for the Yankees against the Chicago White Sox.
"We talked to him about it. We are unaware of any investigation at this time," New York manager Joe Girardi said Saturday. "We talked to him yesterday just to say you might be asked about it. I feel like his head will be in the right spot."
The 23-year-old Nova was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last weekend and pitched well in his first major league start Monday at Toronto.
De La Rosa is still at Double-A Trenton, where he has been used primarily as a reliever this year.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
