Adam LaRoche has released a statement about his 14-year-old son Drake, his decision to walk away from the White Sox, team vice president Kenny Williams, family, baseball, character, morals, God, brands, and a whole bunch of other stuff.


The full, lengthy statement can be found here, but the newsworthy part is the portion in which LaRoche tells his side of his conversation with Williams. LaRoche says that after being told to reduce Drake’s visits, he was told to not bring his son around at all.

Prior to signing with the White Sox, my first question to the club concerned my son’s ability to be a part of the team. After some due diligence on the club’s part, we reached an agreement. The 2015 season presented no problems as far as Drake was concerned. (My bat and our record are another story!) With all of this in mind, we move toward the current situation which arose after White Sox VP Ken Williams recently advised me to significantly scale back the time that my son spent in the clubhouse. Later, I was told not to bring him to the ballpark at all. Obviously, I expressed my displeasure toward this decision to alter the agreement we had reached before I signed with the White Sox. Upon doing so, I had to make a decision. Do I choose my teammates and my career? Or do I choose my family? The decision was easy, but in no way was it a reflection of how I feel about my teammates, manager, general manager or the club’s owner Jerry Reinsdorf.


Photo: AP