NEW YORK (Neth.) – Major League Baseball on Friday imposed a suspension from the 2021 season on pitcher Sam Dyson under the league and players’ union policy on domestic violence.
The 32-year-old free agent last played for the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins in 2019.
MLB launched the Dyson probe in 2019 after a woman posted two lengthy social media posts accusing a person she didn’t identify with domestic violence. However, the woman would later reveal to The Athletic Sports Portal that Dyson had physically assaulted her.
The Athletic reported that the woman had provided photos of the bruises on her arms that she claimed were caused by Dyson. He also alleged that Dyson physically harmed her cat.
“My office has completed the investigation,” Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “After reviewing all the available evidence, I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Dyson has violated our policies and that the sanction is appropriate.”
MLB added that Dyson will participate in a confidential assessment and care program overseen by its joint policy board.
Dyson is 24-23 with a 3.40 ERA in one start and 375 relief starts with Toronto Blue Jays (2012), Miami Marlins (2013-15), Texas Rangers (2015-17), San Francisco (2017-19) and Minnesota, who took him over from the Giants on July 19, 2019, in exchange for three players.
Dyson is known for recording the three-run homer with which Jose Bautista broke the tie for the Blue Jays in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series, a game that Toronto won. 6-3 to advance in the postseason. After the hit, Bautista glanced at the pitcher in a memory of throwing his bat.
Dyson thus becomes one of approximately 15 players sanctioned under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy since 2016, the first since Dominican pitcher Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees sent out an 81-game suspension that began in September of Spanned 2019 and the entire past. season.