MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Luis Jimenez, the New Britain Rock Cats first baseman currently serving a 15-game suspension, is confused and a little disgusted by the system that found him guilty of using a performance-enhancing drug.

 

Jimenez, who will be 23 on May 7, was playing for the Columbus (Ga.) Catfish in the Dodgers chain last year when he said bought the over-the-counter supplement Ripped Fuel at GNC in the local mall. Jimenez, 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, was hoping it would help him maintain his weight.

 

The only weight it reduced was that of his wallet. Jimenez, who has a wife and child in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, will not get paid during his inactivity. Barring any postponements, Jimenez is slated to return to active duty on April 22 when New Britain is visiting the Trenton Thunder.

 

"Sometimes the teams tell me to do something about my weight," he said. "Sometimes I take pills like that and I guess they have something (illegal) in them. When I bought it, I made sure it was ephedra-free."

 

Ephedra is a banned weight-loss supplement that contributed to the death of former Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler in spring training two years ago.

 

"I knew we weren’t supposed to use Ephedra but Ephedra was not there," Jimenez said.

 

Jimenez said his battle to lose weight is difficult and he thought taking an "energy pill" would help.

 

"I’d have to eat diet food to lose weight but I don’t eat diet food because I don’t have time," he said. "They make good food (in the postgame clubhouse spreads) so I have to use pills like that."

 

He said he also took cortisone shots for his ailing left shoulder that he thinks could have influenced the test results.

 

"The team gave me four cortisone shots and that’s a steroid," he said.

 

The loss of a paycheck has caused him some hardship.

 

"We need the money," he said. "I play baseball because I like it but I play because I want to help my family, too."

 

He feels that baseball is using minor-leaguers as scapegoats to appease a problem that was brought to the nation’s attention by the transgression of major-leaguers.

 

"The minor leagues have to be more prepared for making that test," he said. "I’m not the one who’s using (steroids). They made an example of (the minor-leaguers). If I’m a user, my body’s going to change. My body never changed. I’m the same guy I always was. I’ve weighed 270 pounds for three years and I don’t have muscles."

 

Jimenez is upset with what he feels is an injustice. He says he’s done nothing wrong, or if he did, he wasn’t aware of it.

 

"I’m very, very angry," he said. "(Other minor leaguers) have to concentrate more on what they do. If that happened with me, it can happen with somebody else. It’s not fair."