In this day and age, it’s pretty normal to see a sports star be suspended or investigated for off-field issues, but this whole situation surrounding the Tampa Bay Rays and their shortstop Wander Franco might “take the cake” as the strangest.
Franco (who is in no way related to actor James Franco, though they have both found themselves riding the line of being “canceled”) is an an up-and-coming star in the MLB. This year, the 22-year-old earned his first ever All-Star nod, and in 2021, the talented shortstop signed an 11-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays for $182 million dollars.
Though he was already being viewed as a generational talent, this was effectively his “breakout year.” It seemed as though the sky was the limit, until some strange and concerning social media posts started surfacing over the weekend that started a rumor that Wander Franco was dating a 14-year-old girl.
This video below does a good job of providing an overview of the situation, as well as showing some of the photos from social media that are currently being investigated by the MLB:
As the video stated, the manager of the Rays denied to comment on Franco’s absence during yesterday’s game, and even said that it was a scheduled day off.
Clearly that was somewhat of a cover-up, considering that Franco is not traveling with the team on their current roadtrip.
Their communications account released the statement today saying:
The Tampa Bay Rays also decided to go with the bland “we aren’t going to say anything” statement in regards to the concerning situation, releasing another post a little bit later in the day:
Some are saying that the girl that is in the alleged relationship is older than 18, but most are reporting that she is, in fact, 14 years of age, thus making the relationship between her and Franco problematic (and illegal).
And as always, the internet saw that something really serious was playing out in front of all of our eyes and decided to flood social media with memes about Wander Franco. In fact, when the news was breaking and Wander Franco’s name was trending on Twitter, all you could find were memes and jokes about this potentially disturbing situation.
Not to mention, the Rays also were giving away Wander Franco caps to all fans 14 and under on the night that he was benched.
You can’t make this up…
