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Astros minor-leaguer apologizes for tweet criticizing Jessica Mendoza

Astros minor leaguer Brooks Marlow isn't a fan of women calling baseball games. (MiLB.com Screenshot)
Astros minor-leaguer Brooks Marlow isn’t a fan of women calling baseball games. (MiLB.com Screenshot)

Houston Astros minor-leaguer Brooks Marlow should have followed Rule No. 1 of Twitter: Don’t tweet. He learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night, sending out a terrible opinion about ESPN baseball broadcaster Jessica Mendoza.

Unsurprisingly, that tweet was deleted by Marlow minutes after it was published.

The Astros spoke to Marlow shortly after the incident, and sent along the following screen grab of his apology:

Brooks Marlow apologized after sending out a tweet criticizing ESPN broadcaster Jessica Mendoza. (Screenshot via the Houston Astros)
Brooks Marlow apologized after sending out a tweet criticizing ESPN broadcaster Jessica Mendoza. (Screenshot via the Houston Astros)

The team also issued a statement apologizing to Mendoza for Marlow’s comments:

Mendoza is no stranger to criticism in her role, but it’s somewhat of a shock to see a minor-league player get in on the act. Though he calls out Mendoza specifically by name, it’s important to note that Marlow goes full misogynist here. “No lady needs to be on ESPN talking during a baseball game,” the first part of the tweet read.

That’s pretty awful.

If we may, let’s bring it back to Mendoza for a minute. The former Team USA softball player has been a baseball announcer for ESPN since 2014, and is now constantly in the public eye after taking over the Sunday Night Baseball role last June. Anyone in that type of role is going to have critics, regardless of their gender. There are actually people out there who dislike Vin Scully. With that said, Mendoza gets so much more hate because she’s a woman.

Jessica Mendoza is used to criticism in her role. (Getty Images/Maxx Wolfson)
Jessica Mendoza is used to criticism in her role. (Getty Images/Maxx Wolfson)

But Marlow’s criticism follows the same tired trend we always see with Mendoza. It’s never specific, and it’s more about the fact that she’s a woman than anything else. It’s never anything like, “I wish her hitting breakdowns were more ____,” or “she could really benefit from a partner who ____.” It’s mostly just general, “I don’t like her” complaints that hint at misogyny. In this case, there’s no hinting.

The 23-year-old Marlow hit just .220/.310/.349 over two minor-league levels last season. With those numbers, he might want to focus on his own career before criticizing others.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik