Photo by Brian Allen

Gio Gonzalez, who rose last year to become the ace of the Washington Nationals’ pitching staff while winning 21 games, denies that he is among several high-profile Major League Baseball players linked to a Miami clinic accused of selling performance-enhancing drugs.

A report in the Miami New Times digs into Biogenesis, a clinic run by Anthony Bosch, who was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration in 2009 for allegedly supplying Manny Ramirez with illegal steroid treatments. Bosch was never charged, but his clinic, the New Times reports, has continued to operate as “the East Coast version of BALCO,” a reference to the San Francisco-area clinic that supplied Barry Bonds with performance-enhancing substances

Bosch’s clinic, according to the New Times, counts among its clients New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (who has admitted past steroid use), Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz, and the Nationals’ Gonzalez:

There’s also the curious case of Gio Gonzalez, the 27-year-old, Hialeah-native, left-handed hurler who won 21 games last year for the Washington Nationals. Gonzalez’s name appears five times in Bosch’s notebooks, including a specific note in the 2012 book reading, “Order 1.c.1 with Zinc/MIC/… and Aminorip. For Gio and charge $1,000.” (Aminorip is a muscle-building protein.)

It should be noted, though, that Aminorip is not on Major League Baseball’s list of banned substances. Gonzalez’s father, Max, also told the New Times that, in fact, he was Bosch’s patient and that the Nationals’ right-handed starter has never visited the clinic.

“My son works very, very hard, and he’s as clean as apple pie,” the elder Gonzalez says. “I went to Tony because I needed to lose weight. A friend recommended him, and he did great work for me. But that’s it. He never met my son. Never. And if I knew he was doing these things with steroids, do you think I’d be dumb enough to go there?”

In a statement released over Twitter, Gio Gonzalez refuted the report that he was seen at Biogenesis. “I’ve never used performance enhancing drugs of any kind and I never will, I’ve never met or spoken with tony Bosch or used any substance [p]rovided by him. [A]nything said to the contrary is a lie.”