Phillies on Howard: He's a respected member of our team

The Philadelphia Phillies issued a statement Sunday regarding first baseman Ryan Howard, who was among a trio of MLB players linked to performance-enhancing drugs in an undercover documentary by Al Jazeera.

"Ryan Howard has vigorously denied the allegations contained in tonight's airing of Al Jazerra's report titled 'The Dark Side,'" said the statement. "Ryan has spent his entire career with the Phillies and, during that entire time, has been an extremely well respected member of our team and an outstanding contributor to our community. We will fully cooperate with any investigation conducted by Major League Baseball and will refer all further questions to them concerning the Al Jazerra report."

Related: Undercover documentary links Howard, Zimmerman to doping

Howard, along with Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman were named in the report, while catcher Taylor Teagarden is featured on camera discussing his use of PEDs.

The 36-year-old Howard is a three-time All-Star and former National League MVP, who hit .229/.277/.443 with 23 home runs and 128 strikeouts in 2015.

Howard missed 215 games over the last four seasons due to injury.