Luis Gonzalez, who played parts of three seasons with the Colorado Rockies, has become the second player in Japanese professional baseball history to be suspended for failing a drug test.

Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro on Monday barred the Yomiuri Giants infielder for one year.

"This is a big setback," Negoro said Monday from Tokyo. "What we need to do is to handle the matter properly in order to prevent something like this happening again."

The Japan Central League squad is expected to release Gonzalez, 28, shortly.

Gonzalez was given a drug test on April 30 after a game between the Giants and the Hiroshima Carp.

Results of the test showed that Gonzalez had clobenzorex, amphetamine, and p-hydroxyamphetamine in his system.

Gonzalez denied use of any illegal drugs when he was interviewed by club representative Hidetoshi Kiyotake on May 19.

Amphetamines, often used illegally as a recreational club drug and as a performance enhancer, are banned by Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball.

Gonzalez, who played for the Rockies from 2004-2006, had played in 32 games for the Giants this season. He had 35 hits with two homers and 17 runs batted in.

The first player suspended by Japanese baseball was pitcher Rick Guttormson of the Softbank Hawks for 20 days in 2007 after testing positive for Finasteride, which was in a hair-growing agent the 30-year-old player had been taking for two years.

With files from the Associated Press