After overdose, Allison says he's ready to pitch again

PEABODY, Mass. -- Florida Marlins pitching prospect Jeff Allison said he's recovered from a near fatal heroin overdose this summer and plans to report to spring training in late February.

ADVERTISEMENT

"I talked with the club a month ago and they said I'm welcome (back)," Allison told The Salem News. "I definitely intend to be there."

A Marlins spokesman declined comment.

Allison, Florida's top choice in the 2003 draft, hasn't pitched since he left spring training in May without permission. Shortly afterward, Allison said he had a "problem" with OxyContin and that he'd been fined $200,000 by the Marlines for failing a drug test for marijuana, prompting him to leave camp.

On July 17, he nearly died of a heroin overdose and had to spend a weekend in a hospital in Lynn.

The former Peabody High School standout said he's given himself the right amount of time to move past his problems. He wouldn't comment on his drug use or whether he's undergone treatment.

"It was kind of a bad dream, something I don't want to talk about or even think about," he said.

"I do know this: I didn't want to look back some day and regret anything, like it could have been that or could have been this," he said. "I just want to return and work hard."

The 6-foot-2 Allison, a righthander, said he's been running two miles daily and throwing regularly at an indoor training facility nearby.

"My velocity is good," he said. "My strength and speed haven't changed at all. I look the same, I feel the same and throw the same."

Allison, 20, said he's scheduled to be evaluated soon by Marlins' team physician Jeff Fishbein, who must give him clearance to return to the team.

Allison contract with the Marlins included a $1.85 million bonus, but he only received one-third of that after his problems surfaced.