Jordan Whitlock, the wife of Red Sox pitcher Garrett Whitlock, is fed up with the threatening messages fans are sending their way.
Days after a fan was banned from all MLB parks for heckling the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, Whitlock posted screenshots on Instagram of some of the disgusting DMs she and her husband have received this week, making public more examples of recent bad fan behavior.
The post showed one message from someone who said they hoped Whitlock got “drilled in [his] mouth with a 110 mph line drive” and suffered a “mind-boggling violent concussion.”
Others sent death threats to the couple and their son.
“This. Is. Not. Okay. Athletes are people too,” she wrote on the platform. “Not pieces you bet on and earn the right to taunt and degrade … Imagine that’s your friend, spouse, son.”
“No one should have to deal with this in any work setting,” Jordan added. “Leave people’s families out of it. That line should not be crossed. This is not ‘a part of the game.’ This is unacceptable.”
On Tuesday, Marte was brought to tears after a White Sox fan in the crowd heckled him about his mother, who died in a car accident in 2017.
The fan was later banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.
Whitlock received online death threats directed at his children after his tough start Saturday night against the Cincinnati Reds.
Jordan also referenced Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr., who received online death threats directed at his children after giving up seven runs during a start against the Reds in May.
McCullers later detailed a painful conversation between him and his daughter about the threats.
“She asked me when I came home: ‘Daddy like what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?’” McCullers told The Associated Press in May. “So, those conversations are tough to deal with.”
Shortly after that incident, Whitlock’s teammate, Liam Hendriks, called out people who were threatening his wife’s life and directing “vile” comments at him on Instagram.