Yesterday, the former fiancee of Rays’ catcher Derek Norris claimed on her personal Instagram account that she suffered physical and mental abuse from Norris (she did not mention him by name, but her description strongly suggests that she’s referring to Norris). ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reported a few hours later that Major League Baseball had launched an official investigation pursuant to its domestic violence policy.
Today Norris issued a statement to the Tampa Bay Times denying the allegations:
As we have often noted since MLB adopted its policy, neither investigations nor punishments under the policy are dependent upon arrests, criminal charges or criminal conviction. We will, presumably, hear nothing more about this until MLB has completed its investigation.