Chattanooga Lookouts left fielder Andrew Lambo is scheduled to return from his 50-game suspension at the end of the month, but whether he resumes with the Lookouts is a little less certain.
"I'm not sure," Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said Tuesday. "It will most likely be here, but we'll see. He may go to A-ball for a little while, but at some point I assume he'll be back here."
Colletti, who is in Chattanooga this week visiting the organization's Double-A team, said Lambo has been in the extended program in Arizona since violating Major League Baseball policy by testing positive a second time for a drug of abuse. The 21-year-old began this season as the No. 7 Dodgers prospect and hit .342 with seven doubles, two home runs and 13 RBIs in 19 games before being suspended.
Lambo was rated the No. 1 organizational prospect before last season and hit .256 in 130 games with the Lookouts.
"It's just disappointing for a young man who has a lot of talent and has a chance to be a very good player," Colletti said. "You think about it from that aspect but also the human aspect of people make decisions that sometimes you wish they hadn't and sometimes they wish they hadn't.
"We're going to do everything we can to help him, but it's like I told him: At the end of the day, it will be up to him."
Asked if there has been discussion of sending Lambo to A-ball as a form of internal punishment, Colletti said, "We won't do that. It will depend on whether he's ready to play here."