The Athletic Reporter Apologizes to Dodgers Star for Reporting He Was Suspended for Drugs — After Ballplayer Publicly Called Him Out for ‘B*llshit’

(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

The Athletic senior writer Evan Drellich apologized to Los Angeles Dodgers player Miguel Rojas on Wednesday afternoon, two days after he incorrectly reported Rojas was suspended for using performance enhancing drugs. His apology also came a few hours after Rojas called him out on a popular baseball show for the “b*llshit” report.

“To Miguel Rojas and the Dodgers, I sincerely and publicly apologize,” Drellich posted on X. “I’ve reached out to Miguel, the Dodgers and Miguel’s agent to say the same. Once again, I’m sorry.”

That mea culpa followed his bogus post on Monday, which said Rojas was suspended for 80 games for “use of a banned substance.” Drellich deleted the post a few minutes later and said he incorrectly identified the Dodgers second baseman. He fingered the wrong Rojas, it turned out; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas was the player who actually failed the drug test.

Miguel Rojas was then asked about the whole ordeal during an interview on the Jomboy Media Baseball show on Wednesday.

Co-host Chris Rose said Drellich “mistyped” Rojas’s name, which spurred the player to jump in.

“Whoa whoa whoa, let me stop you there. He didn’t mistype my name. He did it with all the intention to put my name and the organization’s name on that tweet,” Rojas said. “One thing is to mistype my name and say Miguel Rojas got suspended — that’s a kind of fair mistake that you can commit. But when you say Miguel Rojas from the Los Angeles Dodgers got suspended 80 games for PEDs, that’s what I’m not good with.”

Rojas insisted he didn’t want to make it a “big deal,” but he said he was thrown off by Drellich not contacting him or the organization to apologize.

Rose said that was “b*llshit” when he heard it, and Rojas said he thought it was BS too.

The misidentification was fairly noteworthy in baseball world, considering Rojas hit the game-tying home run in the 9th inning of the seventh game of the World Series last year. The unlikely dinger from Rojas — who is much better known for his prowess on defense — helped the Dodgers come back and win the title a few innings later.

The Athletic was acquired by The New York Times for $550 million in 2022.

Watch a clip of his interview above.

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