By Chris Brown / STL Baseball Today | @cbrown_STLBBT | Nov. 9, 2015, 5:06 pm CT

The road to the majors for Cardinals top prospect Alex Reyes has hit a speed bump.

The 21-year-old, widely considered one of the best pitching prospects in the minors, has been suspended 50 games without pay for a second positive test for a drug of abuse.

In a statement provided to MLB.com, Reyes admitted that drug was marijuana:

“Earlier this week, I tested positive for marijuana during a routine drug test. I take full responsibility for my actions and apologize for disappointing my family, fans, teammates and the St. Louis Cardinals organization. I acknowledge my inappropriate behavior and will accept the consequences. Baseball is my passion, and I will do everything in my power to put this behind me and move forward.”

The suspension is effective immediately, meaning that Reyes’ time in the Arizona Fall League, where he had been playing the last few weeks, has come to an abrupt end. Scheduled to start in the league’s All-Star Game on Saturday, Reyes was sent back to the Dominican Republic this weekend for then unknown reasons.

As noted in a statement by Major League Baseball, the suspension includes the 10 remaining games in the AFL season, meaning Reyes will miss only the first 40 games of the 2016 season.

Ranked as the number 10 prospect in the game on Baseball America’s midseason list, Reyes was projected to crack the Cardinals’ big-league roster some time in 2016 after going 5-7 with a 2.49 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 101 1/3 innings across three minor-league levels last season.

“That’s still a possiblity,” GM John Mozeliak said of Reyes contributing in the majors in 2016 (via MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch), “but this [suspension] is certainly a large speed bump.”

Reyes’ punishment marks the second time in the last two months that a Cardinals player was suspended under MLB’s Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Back in September, catcher Cody Stanley was handed an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, his second such suspension.

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