Matthew Stephen Roney (born January 10, 1980) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB) for the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

and

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

. Roney was drafted in the first round of the

1998 Major League Baseball draft The 1998 First-Year Player Draft, Major League Baseball's annual amateur draft of high school and college baseball players, was held on June 2 and 3, 1998. A total of 1445 players were drafted over the course of 50 rounds. First round selections ...

by the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. In 2002 he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

and then purchased from the Pirates by the

. In 2003 he made his major league debut with the Tigers, appearing in 45 games and starting 11 of those. He would compile an overall record of 1-9 with a 5.45

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

before being released on July 3, 2005. He played for the

in 2006 but spent much of that time in the minors with the

Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Prior to 2015, the River Cats were the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics for 15 yea ...

, appearing in only three MLB games. He signed a major league contract for the 2007 season with the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

on November 13, 2006. On April 30, 2007, Roney was suspended for 50 games for violation of baseball's minor league drug program. Roney tested positive for a "drug of abuse", which is separate from performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids or

human growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in h ...

.Toronto minor leaguer Roney suspended for positive drug test
, Associated Press report, April 30, 2007. After serving his suspension, Roney spent the rest of the 2007 season in the Blue Jays' farm system.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roney, Matt 1980 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Oklahoma Asheville Tourists players Carolina Mudcats players Erie SeaWolves players Toledo Mud Hens players Oklahoma RedHawks players Sacramento River Cats players Syracuse Chiefs players Detroit Tigers players Oakland Athletics players Sportspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Arizona League Rockies players Portland Rockies players