masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgOrioles pitcher Troy Patton said he let the team down and he has some repair work to do with the team and the O’s fans. Patton was suspended for 25 games without pay in December after testing positive for an amphetamine in violation of Major League Baseball’s joint drug prevention and treatment program.

Patton says he has an issue with attention deficit disorder and took something late last year to try to boost his energy.

“I took an Adderall and I don’t have a prescription for it, at the…Orioles pitcher Troy Patton said he let the team down and he has some repair work to do with the team and the O’s fans. Patton was suspended for 25 games without pay in December after testing positive for an amphetamine in violation of Major League Baseball’s joint drug prevention and treatment program.

Patton says he has an issue with attention deficit disorder and took something late last year to try to boost his energy.

“I took an Adderall and I don’t have a prescription for it, at the end of the season. It was a stupid mistake, especially having failed one prior test. I have to deal with it and hopefully come back the 26th game,” Patton said this morning at FanFest.

Patton was asked how he can ensure this won’t happen again.

“I’m not going to keep adderall within a mile of me,” he said. “It is a much more serious suspension next time – 80 games – so my assurance to people is that I can’t afford to miss half the season. It is no longer in my repertoire at all. It is over with.”

But he may have to do some repair work with the team.

“I do a little bit. Buck (Showalter) is very forgiving. He’s a great manager and he hasn’t been too on my case about it,” Patton said. “He’s not scolding me like a high school coach would. He expects people to be professionals and I wasn’t. There is some repairing, but if I show up and have a good season and contribute to the team, then I think that will repair itself.

“I wanted to make a point that it was adderall, not a PED. I don’t want fans to associate the adderall with any sort of steroids or anything of that nature. People take adderall every day for normal usage. Four times the normal percentage of people in baseball take it than in the real world. It was not something I was doing to get bigger, faster, stronger. It was something I was trying to do to have some energy and alertness.”

Patton said he was aware he was taking a banned substance, one he couldn’t take without a doctor’s prescription.

“I knew I didn’t have a (prescription) for it. I was unable to get a script for it,” Patton said. “They told me I wasn’t ADD. I knew I shouldn’t take it. I still think I am ADD and still would like to take adderall, but it will probably be more difficult now to go through that process. I can play without it, I have for years. It is not something I desperately need.”