NEW YORK — Pitcher Sam Dyson was suspended for the 2021 season by Major League Baseball on Friday under the domestic violence policy of the league and the players’ association.
The 32-year-old free agent last played in 2019 for San Francisco and Minnesota.
MLB began investigating Dyson in 2019 after a woman wrote two lengthy social media posts alleging domestic violence by an unnamed individual. The woman later told The Athletic that Dyson physically abused her.
The Athletic reported she provided photos showing bruises on her arms she said were caused by Dyson. She also claimed Dyson physically harmed her cat.
“My office has completed its investigation,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Having reviewed all of the available evidence, I have concluded that Mr. Dyson violated our policy and that discipline is appropriate.”
MLB said Dyson will participate in a confidential evaluation and treatment program supervised by its joint policy board.
Dyson is 24-23 with a 3.40 ERA in one start and 375 relief appearances for Toronto (2012), Miami (2013-15), Texas (2015-17), San Francisco (2017-19) and Minnesota, which obtained him from the Giants on July 19, 2019, for three players.
He is best known for allowing a tiebreaking, three-run homer to Toronto’s Jose Bautista in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the 2015 AL Division Series, a game the Blue Jays won 6-3 to advance. Bautista then glared at the pitcher and emphatically and memorably flipped his bat.
He became one of about 15 players disciplined under the domestic violence policy since 2016, the first since New York Yankees pitcher Domingo German served an 81-game suspension that started in September 2019 and ran through last season.