White Sox Minor Leaguer Announces He Is Gay

Anderson Comás, a minor leaguer in the Chicago White Sox organization, revealed on Sunday that he is gay, becoming only the second active player affiliated with a major league team to make such a public announcement.

In an Instagram post, Comás warned homophobic readers that the message would not be for them and then said he is “proudly and happily part of the LGTBQ+ community.”

Comás, 23, signed with Chicago out of the Dominican Republic in 2016. He has spent most of his career as an outfielder but converted into a full-time relief pitcher in 2022. He had a 6.35 E.R.A. in 11⅓ innings with Chicago’s rookie league team in Arizona last season, battling with some control issues but striking out more than a batter per inning.

After Comás’s post was published, the White Sox showed support for the decision, saying on Twitter, “We are all so proud of you, Anderson!” The team also released a statement in support of the young player.

“Anderson first shared his news with us last year,” Chris Getz, Chicago’s assistant general manager for player development, said in the statement. “And I was very pleased that he was comfortable sharing with us in player development.

“I also was happy at the reaction across the organization, which as you would expect was to support, help and congratulate a teammate. With his social media post today, we all are so proud of Anderson and that he is comfortable sharing such an important personal part of his life so openly.”

No major leaguers have revealed publicly, while they were active players, that they were gay. But Glenn Burke, a rising star with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the late 1970s, was known to be gay by many of his teammates. Burke was badly mistreated by multiple teams in the majors, including the Dodgers, and died of complications from AIDS in 1995. The Dodgers, acknowledging that mistreatment, celebrated Burke’s life at their annual Pride Night last summer.

Billy Bean, an outfielder for multiple teams from 1987 to 1995, revealed he was gay after his career was over and in 2014 was named M.L.B.’s ambassador for inclusion.

In addition to Burke and Bean, David Denson, a minor league first baseman in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, publicly revealed he was gay in 2015. Denson retired after the 2016 season.

The rarity of Comás’s announcement is not limited to baseball. Only a small handful of players in the other major American men’s sports leagues have declared that they are gay.

Comás said in his Instagram post that he wanted to push back against the belief by some that being gay limits what a person can accomplish.

“I’m doing this cause I wanna be an inspiration for those like me out there fighting for their dreams,” he wrote. “Please don’t listen to those stupid things that people say about us, fight for your dreams, believe in yourself and go for it.”