Ian Desmond will choose not to play this season, the Colorado Rockies outfielder announced Monday.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made this baseball season one that is a risk I’m not comfortable with,” he wrote at the end of a long Instagram post that touched on race and opportunities for youth baseball players. .
“With a pregnant wife and four young children who have many questions about what is happening in the world, home is where I need to be now,” Desmond wrote. “Home for my wife, Chelsey. Home to help. Home to guide. At home to answer questions from my three older children about the coronavirus and civil rights and life. At home to be their dad.”
Desmond, who grew up in Sarasota, Florida, made his major league debut with Washington in 2009. The two-time All-Star played for Texas for one season before signing with the Rockies.
In his Instagram post, Desmond said he has been sharing more of his thoughts and experiences as a biracial man since George Floyd’s death in Minnesota on May 25. Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died after a white cop hit his knee with Floyd’s. neck for almost 8 minutes.
Desmond said his mind started racing during a recent visit to Sarasota baseball fields where he played as a child. He wrote how they looked sloppy and sloppy, and how important youth baseball was to him as a boy.
“Why can’t we support the teaching of play to all children, but especially to those living in disadvantaged communities?” Desmond wrote. “Why are accessible and affordable youth sports not seen as an essential opportunity to affect children’s development? To money-making proposals and recruiting opportunities? It’s hard to understand. ”
Desmond said he wants to help Sarasota Youth Baseball get back to normal. “It is what I can do, in the scheme of both,” he wrote. “Then I am.”
Desmond has played 11 seasons, the last three with the Rockies. He hit .255 with 20 home runs and 65 RBIs in 140 games in 2019.
Desmond was owed $ 5,555,556 for the prorated portion of his $ 15 million salary, part of a five-year, $ 70 million contract, according to The Associated Press. He is owed $ 8 million next year, and his agreement includes a $ 15 million equipment option by 2022 with a purchase of $ 2 million.
The previous Monday, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Leake and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Ross announced that they are choosing not to participate in the 2020 season.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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