While most of the baseball world has turned on suspended Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, his teammates have at least applauded him for making a public apology and for his admittance of using performance enhancing drugs.
"I thought it was a good first step on the road to redemption, I guess you could say," catcher Jonathan Lucroy said Friday before the start of a series against the Cincinnati Reds, according to ESPN.
Braun, after denying performance enhancing drug use in the past despite failing a test, admitted publicly that he used a lozenge and cream that contained banned substances while he was recovering from injury in 2011, the year he won the National League MVP award. On June 22, Braun agreed to a 65-game ban handed down from MLB for his connection to the Biogenesis clinic, and his Brewers teammates have kept in touch with the controversial figure ever since.
Braun will have a public press conference to field questions on what he's done at a later date that is not yet known.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke stood by his player despite the controversy.
"I think no matter what he says, there's going to be some negative from a lot of people still: 'He didn't say enough (or) he didn't explain himself enough.' I think he did. And I also think there are some things he probably still can't say," Roenicke said per ESPN. "As I read into how he said it, I think there are some things that probably he can't bring up. That's OK with me."
Braun was batting .298 through 61 games before the ban, with nine homers and 38 RBIs. In his MVP year where he admitted to using banned substances back in 2011, Braun hit .332 with 33 long-balls and 111 RBIs.
While the Brewers have gone through turmoil off the diamond with the Braun fiasco, the team is also enduring a lost season on the field. Entering Saturday, the Brewers (56-72) are 20 games out of the division race for the National League Central and 16.5 games out of the second wildcard spot.
While Braun's teammates are quick to forgive him, after his actions and lies, it may take a lot more than that to win the rest of the baseball world over
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