Baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz has tried to connect with embattled Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco, who is being investigated for alleged relationships with minors in his native Dominican Republic.
During a Thursday appearance on “Grandes En Los Deportes” — a podcast hosted by ESPN Deportes baseball reporter Enrique Rojas — Ortiz explained he “tried to make myself available” to Franco.
“When I heard about this situation, I tried to make myself available to Wander to see how I could help him because I really wanted to know what was happening with that kid,” Ortiz said, according to the Daily Mail, before explaining that he has no knowledge of the situation.
“I am not a partaker of wrongdoings. I really can’t make a comment (on the Wander Franco case) because up to now I don’t know what has happened,” Ortiz said.
“I don’t know if he did or didn’t. I don’t make the mistake that many people make who start to comment or give their opinion on things they don’t know about.”
Ortiz recalled asking star San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. for Franco’s phone number during a conversation with Tatis about his 80-game suspension in 2022 for testing positive for Clostebol, a performance-enhancing substance banned by MLB.
“I took advantage there and asked him (Tatis Jr.) to contact him (Wander), get me his phone number to see how I can help him,” the Boston Red Sox legend said. “It is the only conversation about it that I have had, more than anything.”
Ortiz called the situation with Wander “complicated.”
“I hope that everything that is being discussed with Wander Franco is not a reality,” he said. “It’s a complicated situation with the MLB, because MLB doesn’t tolerate those situations.”
Ortiz also reflected on a previous conversation he had with Franco, 22, during the MLB All-Star Game festivities in Seattle last month.
“I spent a long time talking to Wander at the All-Star Game, I really liked him because he is a good kid, like all youth,” he said. “But the mission of one as a veteran is to guide those kids, not trample on them or mistreat them.”
The Rays placed Franco on the restricted list Monday as MLB investigates since-deleted social media posts alleging he was involved in a relationship with a minor.
The Dominican Republic attorney general’s office told the AP on Monday that it also was investigating the matter.
On Tuesday, Franco was linked to a second alleged relationship with an underage girl, per Dominican newspaper Diario Libre, which cited a source in the country’s attorney general office claiming a 17-year-old girl filed a complaint against Franco in July.
The age of consent in the Dominican Republic is 18.
Franco appeared to deny the allegations in a video he posted on Instagram Live Sunday.
“They say that I’m in public with a little girl, that I’m running around with a minor,” Franco said in Spanish in the video, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
“How crazy is that, dude? People don’t know what to do with their time. Go see. Those people need to get moving.
“One is here focused, doing my thing, you see, thanks to God. That’s why I prefer to be on my side and not get involved with anybody because people are so gossipy.”
MLB investigators and agents from the Attorney General’s Office division specializing in minors and gender violence in the province of Peravia traveled to Bani, the capital and Franco’s hometown, to investigate, according to the Daily Mail.
On Thursday, Dominican journalist Hector Gomez tweeted a quote from “a person very close to the investigations into the case of Wander Franco,” stating his MLB career could be over.
“It will be very unlikely that Wander Franco will play in MLB again, judging by the results of the investigations that are currently being carried out, which directly commit him to the accusations against him,” Gomez’s post read.
Wander will miss Tampa Bay’s three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, which starts Friday.
