Cleveland Indians infielder Yu Chang revealed he received racist messages on Twitter after committing a costly ninth inning throwing error during his team's loss to the Chicago White Sox on Monday (April 12) night.
"Exercise your freedom of speech in a right way, I accept all comments, positive or negative but DEFINITELY NOT RACIST ONES. Thank you all and love you all. #StopAsianHate," Chang tweeted, along with a screenshot of multiple anti-Asian racist Instagram messages directed at him.
Chang, 25, tagged the three accounts that sent the messages, including two that have since been deleted and a third that is private as of Tuesday (April 13) morning.
Cleveland lost 4-3 in Monday's game after Chang, who was playing first base, hit Chicago's Yasmani Grandal with a throw while attempting to get the force out at second base and turn a double play.
The play instead resulted in Nick Madrigal scoring the winning run as Chang's throw struck Grandal's helmet and the ball ricocheted toward the left side of the infield.
The Taiwan native has primarily played shortstop and third base during his three MLB seasons with the Indians and hadn't previously played first base prior to the 2021 season.
A recent report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism revealed hate crimes targeting Asian Americans have increased nearly 150% in major U.S. cities during the past year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The #StopAsianHate movement gained national attention last month in the wake of an incident in Atlanta in which eight people -- including six of Asian descent -- were killed by a white man during multiple shootings at Atlanta-area spas.
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