Former MLB player Omar Vizquel accused of sexually harassing autistic batboy

Former MLB great Omar Vizquel has been accused of sexually harassing a team batboy who is autistic, NBC News reported.

An unidentified plaintiff alleged that during his time as a batboy for the Class-A Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team, Vizquel, who was the manager of the team at the time, ordered the young man to shower with him during an August 2019 game, according to a complaint filed in Alabama on Tuesday.

A naked Vizquel, 54, handed the plaintiff a bar of soap and ordered him to wash his back. The plaintiff said that Vizquel then proudly showed him his fully erect penis, according to the complaint. 

The plaintiff, now 25, said that he was “humiliated, intimidated and frightened” of what could happen if he disobeyed Vizquel’s orders, according to NBC News. 

The plaintiff added that he reported the incident to two other Barons employees, but got laughed off. Those two employees are now defendants in the case, NBC News reported. 

This comes as Vizquel, who won 11 Gold Gloves in his 24 seasons in the MLB, was recently fired from his job as a manager for the Mexican Baseball League club the Tijuana Bulls. 

The Chicago White Sox, the main affiliate for the Barons, said in a statement that it conducted an internal investigation at that time, which led to the firing of Vizquel, adding it will not comment further on the lawsuit, NBC News noted. 

The Hill has reached out to the MLB for comment.