October 6, 2021
LA Angels Minor League Pitcher Kieran Lovegrove Comes Out as Bisexual
Emell Adolphus READ TIME: 1 MIN.
Los Angeles Angels minor league baseball player Kieran Lovegrove has come out as bisexual. During an interview with ESPN published last week, the athlete opened up about his sexuality while discussing the mental health challenges facing many minor league baseball players.
In the story, Lovegrove also discussed his past substance abuse and suicidal thoughts.
"Baseball is a game of statistics," Lovegrove told ESPN. "And if you want to tell me that I'm the only queer person in baseball, I'm just not going to agree with you. Someone is terrified because it's a terrifying prospect to come out. I do encourage any one of them to reach out to me."
Lovegrove, a member of the Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas (Los Angeles Angels), plans to retire after the 2021 season. Leading up to this, Lovegrove said he wants to shine a light on the difficulty of being in the closet in the sport of baseball. He has played for nine different minor league teams since being drafted in 2012 and has never played in the majors.
Lovegrove is now one of two professional baseball players who have come out as members of the LGBTQ community after Salem-Keizer Volcanoes third baseman Bryan Ruby came out as gay in September.
