Solomon Bates, Minor League pitcher, reported his sexual orientation through his social networks. On his Twitter account, the 25-year-old pitcher He declared himself openly homosexual.
“Being gay in sports, you don’t know what awaits you”, he commented. “I’m grateful to the Giants for the opportunity to be myself and go out there and play the game that I love,” he said.
Likewise, the player, who was in the Giants branches, added that the San Francisco ninth has released him and pointed out that He decided to talk about his preferences to give greater opportunities to athletes from the LGBT+ community.
“I still can’t believe what happened,” he said. “But I will not give up what I do, I will try to open the doors to other gay athletes like me, I will continue fighting to be one of the best”.
On the other hand, Bates spoke to Outsports and recognized that He went through tough times not to mention his orientation. Since 2019, the USC alum has notified his teammates of his preferences.
“I haven’t been completely myself because I’ve been hiding from myself”, he pointed. “I am a masculine man who loves baseball and now I want to open the doors for gay athletes like me.”
Batesselected in the eighth round of the 2018 Draft, is the second minor league player to come out as gay. David Denson did it in 2015.
Bates numbers
In four Minor League seasons (not played in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Bates reached the AA level. Altogether he had 93 appearances, three starts, 17-6 mark, 4.30 ERA and 219 strikeouts.
