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Minor league pitcher Solomon Bates publicly came out as gay in an Instagram post on Tuesday, the same week that he was released by the Giants. He is the second minor league baseball player to publicly come out as gay, after David Denson did so in 2015.
Bates was an eighth-round pick out of USC in 2018, and has been in the Giants’ system ever since. He pitched in 23 games at Double A this season, posting a 4.02 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings. In his post, he maintained an optimistic outlook following his release, and said he still planned to “open up doors for gay athletes like me.”
