Cleveland infielder Yu Chang was the subject of anti-Asian social media posts following his decisive error in Monday's loss to the White Sox.
Cleveland infielder Yu Chang was the victim of several instances of anti-Asian racism on social media after committing an error in the White Sox's 4-3 walk-off victory over Cleveland on Monday.
With runners at first and second and the score tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Chang fielded a slow-rolling ground ball at first. Instead of going to first base for the easy second out, Chang threw to second hoping to start an inning-ending double play. However, his throw hit White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal in the helmet and caromed across the field, allowing the winning run to score for Chicago.
In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Chang revealed that he was the subject of racist abuse online after the decisive error: "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"
Warning: The following tweet contains explicit language.
As of Tuesday, two of the accounts listed in Chang's screenshot no longer existed while the third is private.
According to a report released by Stop AAPI Hate, racist incidents and hate speech directed toward Asians in the U.S. rose nearly 150% over the last year.
The 25-year-old Chang signed with Cleveland in 2013 and made his MLB debut in 2019. He is the second Taiwanese-born player to play for the franchise after pitcher C.C. Lee.
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