{"id":11807,"date":"2025-07-15T14:09:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11807\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T14:09:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:09:03","slug":"mlb-all-stars-speak-on-the-gray-area-of-sports-betting-social-media-threats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11807\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB All-Stars speak on the \u2018gray area\u2019 of sports betting, social media threats"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 A few days before he stepped to the plate for Monday\u2019s Home Run Derby<\/a>, Minnesota Twins All-Star Byron Buxton got two hits in a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. But that wasn\u2019t enough for a gambler who watched him best Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n

Buxton\u2019s 2-for-4 night didn\u2019t feature an extra-base hit \u2014 and a home run was what the interested party who reached out to the 31-year-old center fielder needed to win a bet.<\/p>\n

The All-Star said he \u201ccould care less\u201d about others gambling on his performance in games because, \u201c\u2018I\u2019m not your dad. I\u2019ve got my own family to take care of and it\u2019s not my decision for me to go out and hit a home run because you made a bet,\u2019\u201d he said on Monday. \u201cThat ain\u2019t how baseball works. It\u2019s harder than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buxton, who was among players at Monday\u2019s All-Star Game media availability that The Athletic asked about the effects of gambling, was drafted in 2012 and has been on the receiving end of fan vitriol since debuting in the majors a decade ago. But there\u2019s no hiding that the recent larger-scale legalization of sports betting operations and the partnerships with MLB that followed have had adverse ramifications on baseball.<\/p>\n

Less than two weeks ago, Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Luis Ortiz was placed on \u201cnon-disciplinary paid leave\u201d so the league could investigate whether he pre-determined the outcome of two pitches he threw in June.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize, the proliferation of gambling-related content in venues doesn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some gray area when they\u2019re showing betting odds pregame, or even during the game, or when you can bet on the over\/under of how many pitches you\u2019re throwing in the inning while I\u2019m warming up to throw,\u201d he said at a theater across from Atlanta\u2019s Truist Park. \u201cIt\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He fears that the positioning of certain advertisements is a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey surround us so much with so many advertisements, so many opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just too close to us and too accessible. It makes me fearful for some guys that might get confused or accidentally click a button or whatever without even meaning to.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first half of this season, two major league pitchers \u2014 Boston\u2019s Liam Hendriks<\/a> and Houston\u2019s Lance McCullers Jr.<\/a> \u2014 received anonymous death threats on social media and denounced them. When approached for an anonymous poll during spring training, many players said their direct messages on social media often feature requests for reimbursements for lost bets<\/p>\n

Players aren\u2019t solely worried now for the safety of themselves and their loved ones, but also about the possibility that some might purposefully alter their work on the field because of betting activities tied to them.<\/p>\n

Some All-Stars suggested the Ortiz incident might just be a one-off.<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants starter Robbie Ray said, \u201cIt\u2019s not the norm. It\u2019s not the everyday actions of players, so I don\u2019t see it as an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Lowe of the Tampa Bay Rays echoed him: \u201cI think no matter where you are there\u2019s gonna be one person that does things the wrong way and 99 percent that do it the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even youngster Jacob Misiorowski, who\u2019s penciled in to pitch in for the fifth inning of Tuesday\u2019s game, despite having made his MLB debut on June 12, said there\u2019s no concern in the Milwaukee Brewers\u2019 clubhouse that players will allow themselves to be influenced by betting operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re at that level,\u201d he said of those hypothetical players, \u201cyou have a different problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others, however, are worried that so-called \u201cfans\u201d are taking things a step too far. For them, combating such overreach is as easy as putting up blinders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of try and block it out and put filters up so we don\u2019t have to look at the hate,\u201d said Alex Bregman, Hendriks\u2019 teammate.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just really try not to look at social media stuff or anything and stay focused on who you are as a player,\u201d Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson said.<\/p>\n

New York Yankees starter Carlos Rod\u00f3n, who has noticed that spectators more than ever shout to him things like, \u201cHey, Carlos, I got you at 5 1\/2 over strikeouts,\u201d considers death threats<\/a> to be part and parcel of jobs in professional sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be fine,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re big boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

But catcher Hunter Goodman of the Colorado Rockies doesn\u2019t think the norm is acceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people should be more aware of it,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re people. We have lives outside of baseball. This is just our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Athletic\u2019s Cody Stavenhagen contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Byron Buxton hitting: Duane Burleson \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 A few days before he stepped to the plate for Monday\u2019s Home Run Derby, Minnesota Twins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[374,2320,372,373,2326,363,99,1794],"class_list":["post-11807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}