Alex Rodriguez: natty or not?

Confirmed 696 home runs, three MVPs, and the longest doping suspension in baseball history

Short answer. Verdict: confirmed. At the peak physique on this page, Alex Rodriguez is 6'3" (191 cm) and 229 lbs (104 kg) at roughly 12% body fat. That works out to an FFMI of 24.4, against the ~25 mark cited as the natural ceiling.

The numbers (estimated)

Note. Playing weight is the listed figure; the body-fat number is an estimate. The verdict is not an estimate — it rests on a positive test, an admission, and a suspension. See the methodology page for how we judge.

Alex Rodriguez has the fullest paper trail of anyone on this site. Sports Illustrated reported in February 2009 that he had tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan in 2003; two days later he acknowledged using steroids from 2001 to 2003 with the Rangers, blaming “an enormous amount of pressure” to perform.

Then it happened again. He was a central figure in the 2013 Biogenesis case, and Major League Baseball suspended him 162 games — the whole 2014 season and postseason — after arbitration cut an original 211-game penalty.

Confirmed, three ways: a positive test, his own words, and a league sanction.

The numbers

He is listed at 6’3” and 230 lbs. As with the other ballplayers here, that produces an FFMI that says nothing interesting. Baseball does not reward the kind of mass that moves the index; it rewards bat speed, recovery, and staying on the field for 162 games. Steroids serve all three without making a man look like a bodybuilder.

This is the case that should end the argument that “he doesn’t look like he’s on anything.” Rodriguez never did.

Verdict

Confirmed — the most documented case on this site. The first admission covered 2001 to 2003 only; the 2014 suspension covers a period he fought and lost.