Mejia also said that he asked the players’ union for help, but representatives told him there were no grounds for an appeal.

“The association should have done more,” Mejia said, adding that he thought the union “should have been there to defend me — because that’s what they’re there for. They should have found something to appeal for.”

Mejia originally signed with the Mets when he was a teenager, in 2007. He made his major league debut in 2010 amid expectations that he would become an impact pitcher. But in the seasons that followed he was plagued by arm injuries and at one point had Tommy John surgery.

Only in 2014 did he find real success as a Met, as their new closer, making 28 saves in 31 chances and even developing a signature gesture — raising both hands over his head and bringing them down as if he were breaking a board over his knee — when he recorded the final out of a game.

But then came 2015 and the onset of his positive drug tests. Although he now admits taking an illegal substance in the first instance, he did not at the time.

And the substances he tested positive for have long been easy to detect in a urine sample. Two of his positive tests involved boldenone, a steroid that has been used in horse racing.