White Sox prospect Anderson Coma came out as gay in a heartfelt message posted on Instagram on Sunday.
The 23-year-old is just the second player associated with MLB to come out as gay while active. Giants prospect Solomon Bates previously came out as gay in August 2022.
“This may be my most personal thing I ever share and it’s that I’m proudly and happily part of the LGTBQ+ community,” Coma wrote on Instagram. “I’m also a human with a great soul, I’m respectful, I’m a lover, I love my family and friends and that’s what really matters, I enjoy my work a lot, being a professional baseball player is the best thing that happened to me so I just wanna say something to those people that says that gay people can not be someone in this life, well look at me I’m Gay and I’m a professional athlete so that didn’t stopped me to make my dreams come true, I’m doing this cause I wanna be an inspiration for those like me out there fitting for their dreams, please don’t listen to those stupid things that people say about us, fight for your dreams, believe in yourself and go for it.”
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The White Sox released a statement through assistant general manager of player development Chris Getz on Sunday night.
“Anderson first shared his news with us last year,” Getz said. “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.”
Comas was signed to a minor league contract by the White Sox in the summer of 2016. Since then, he’s played on various teams in the organization. Last season, he switched positions from outfield to pitcher, posting a 6.35 ERA while playing in the Arizona Complex League.
