team pitcher

Pro baseball player Anderson Comas is overjoyed after finishing his 1st season as an out gay man

By · Updated on January 26, 2024

Anderson Comas just completed a big milestone. The pro pitcher, who plays in the Chicago White Sox’ minor league system, recently wrapped up his first season as an out gay man.

The 23-year-old Dominican native celebrated the occasion on Instagram.

“Thank God for this incredible baseball season,” he wrote. “A lot happened this year, but it was an amazing year.”

While coming out was the biggest milestone Comas experienced this year, he also switched positions. Formerly an outfielder, Comas spent his summer on the pitcher’s mound, and enjoyed a lot of success!

The lefty appeared in 17 games across three minor league levels, posting a spectacular 1.38 ERA.

Comas is the second minor leaguer to ever publicly came out as an active player. When he made his announcement on Instagram, he said he wanted to prove that gay people belong in baseball.

“Disclaimer: if you’re homophobic this post is may not for you or [maybe] yes so you can see we all matters and we all are the same,” he wrote. “This may be my most personal thing I ever share and it’s that I’m proudly and happily part of the LGTBQ+ community 🏳️‍🌈 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.”

Comas’ line about “being a human with a great soul” especially resonates. It shows he doesn’t want his sexuality to define him as a person. Instead, he wants it to compliment him.

It’s apparent that Comas felt liberated this season. He was having a blast all summer long.

His standout moment came in June, when he reflected on his coming out journey prior to the White Sox’ Pride Night.

“I just felt like now is the right time. Now is when I feel good with myself. Now I accept myself,” he told reporters. “I love myself enough to tell people and feel great about it. At first I was afraid to say it, for people to know about me. Now I feel strong enough to say it to people without caring what they say about me.”

Though that quote is great on its own, it’s even better that Comas said it while rocking a t-shirt that read “HUMAN” in LGBTQ+ Pride colors. He says his teammates have supported him from the start.

“They really love me here because I’ve been very respectful with my teammates and all my coaches,” he said. “My teammates and coaches that knew about me. They never changed themselves just because I was gay. They treated me the same. That made me feel comfortable about it.”

Despite MLB’s conservative culture, Comas also highlighted several people in the White Sox organization who have been vital figures in his personal development. One of them is Erin Santana, the team’s manager of international player development and education. She was the first person in the organization to know.

“I was really comfortable with her and I told her about that even before the coming out,” said Comas. “I told her, ‘I know I’m going to do this. What do you think?’ And she loved it. So, I shared my story with her first because I was really comfortable with her and then I did the coming out.”

The series of Pride Night controversies this season–namely the uproar over the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence–shows that baseball has a long way to go when it comes to LGBTQ+ inclusion. But Comas is one of the people who can drive the sport forward; and in many ways, he’s already doing that.

What a successful season indeed.

Related:

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