In a recent interview with ESPN, Kieran
Lovegrove, a minor league baseball player, came out as bisexual.
Lovegrove, 27, is a member of the
Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas (Los Angeles Angels) and a former
third-round draft pick by the Cleveland Indians. He said he plans to
retire after 2021.
ESPN's story mostly focused on the poor
conditions minor league players face.
Lovegrove said that he distanced
himself from his family and teammates while in the closet. He started
coming out to people in 2019.
“Baseball is a game of statistics,”
he
said. “And if you want to tell me that I'm the only queer
person in baseball, I'm just not going to agree with you. Someone is
terrified because it's a terrifying prospect to come out. I do
encourage any one of them to reach out to me.”
Last month, Bryan Ruby, a third baseman
for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, came out. Ruby and Lovegrove are the
only two publicly out players in professional baseball.
Thursday's story was Lovegrove's first
public acknowledgment of his sexual orientation.