Toronto Blue Jays common supervisor Ross Atkins absolutely denounced outfielder Anthony Santander’s anti-Islam Instagram posts on Tuesday.
Chatting with reporters throughout MLB’s annual common supervisor conferences, Atkins stated he personally expressed his disappointment to Santander and made clear the Blue Jays don’t maintain comparable beliefs.
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From SportsNet:
“There actually aren’t phrases to precise my stage of disappointment with him making these feedback. I’ve expressed that to him. I believe something exacerbating some stage of anti-Islamic hate is simply extraordinarily regarding, extraordinarily disappointing. I additionally talked to Anthony about his lack of knowledge, realizing that he has a really giant microphone, what that meant.
We’re working exceptionally arduous internally to make sure, and now we have been, that it is a protected surroundings, that baseball is for everybody. It is essential to us. It is part of our organizational values and his habits didn’t align with that.”
The Blue Jays beforehand launched an announcement distancing the membership from Santander’s posts final week, writing “Particular person feedback don’t symbolize our group’s values and beliefs.”
The values and beliefs in query got here through two reels shared on Santander’s Instagram story, each posted within the wake of the USA midterm elections that noticed Democrats seize management of the U.S. Home of Representatives, the U.S. Senate and a number of other state governments.
Santander’s first video consisted of 1 account monitoring the variety of Muslims elected to authorities positions, most notably Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, and arguing that “All good Muslims consider in and wish Sharia legislation as an alternative of American legislation.” The second video incorporates a Christian minister proclaiming, amongst different issues, that there’s “no such factor as form Muslims.”
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The posts had been later faraway from Santander’s IG story.
Atkins stated the Blue Jays would work with Santander and that he had suggested Santander to handle the matter publicly. He indicated some stage of remorse on the outfielder’s half:
“I expressed my stage of concern. I consider he felt it. I do know he feels badly, however I do not need to converse for him.”
Per Canadian census information from 2021, Toronto has a 9.6% Muslim inhabitants, and Muslims make up 4.9% of the Canadian inhabitants total.
Santander was born and raised in Venezuela and got here to the U.S. after signing with Cleveland as a youngster. He spent his whole MLB profession with the Baltimore Orioles earlier than shifting to Canada on a five-year, $92.5 million contract signed with the Blue Jays following the 2024 season.
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It has been greater than a 12 months since Santander performed his most up-to-date recreation for the Blue Jays. His first season with the membership in 2025 noticed him play solely 54 video games because of a lingering shoulder harm and slash solely .175/.271/.294. His harm worsened in the course of the 2025 postseason and resulted in surgical procedure on his left labrum.
Santander started a rehab project in September of this 12 months, however he wound up taking part in solely 5 video games earlier than his season ended with no return to MLB. He has three assured seasons remaining on his contract, with a wage starting from $15.5 million to $19.2 million with deferrals, plus a $15 million group choice for 2030.