The ugliness of social media further marred an already brutal day for this Mariners reliever and his partner.
Tayler Saucedo revealed one of the alleged many death threats he and his girlfriend received on Instagram after he allowed five runs in the Mariners’ 11-2 loss to the Phillies on Wednesday.
His girlfriend, whose Instagram story lists her as Kelsie Scott, revealed that the messages each had sports betting ties.
“@sauce07 I hope your f–king head gets blown off to pieces walking in Philly you autistic ugly piece of s–t,” the aggressor, @gilbertsgoonsquad, wrote Saucedo tagging him on an Instagram story.
“Your c–t wife/gf dying would be awesome as well.”
Saucedo, 32, posted on X the vile message sent to him while condemning the fan’s actions.
“I understand wanting me gone after today and this year as a whole. Nobody is more disappointed with how this year has gone for me than myself. Trust me i want to win just as much as all of you whether im here or not,” he wrote. “But messaging me this bulls–t and my girlfriend and sending this stuff is beyond baseball. It’s insane how comfortable people are sending this stuff to not only me but my partner. Tell me I suck all you want that’s fine but at some point we gotta get a grip.”
Saucedo, a fifth-year veteran, has struggled to the tune of an 11.05 ERA this year spanning seven appearances after posting a cumulative 3.54 ERA across the previous two seasons for Seattle.
He entered Wednesday’s game with Seattle trailing, 3-1, and ruined any chance of a comeback by allowing four hits and walking one batter while only recording one out.
The poor outing all but secured Philadelphia’s three-game sweep and sent the Mariners to a fifth straight loss and seventh in their past eight games.
Scott posted her partner’s tweet to her Instagram Story and called the note “absolutely disgusting.”
“Friendly reminder that athletes are human beings and have real mental health. Absolutely disgusting what so many of you feel comfortable saying when you’ve never lived under the daily pressure they do,” she posted to her Story. “This is never Ok under any circumstance and I hope these words never find someone who can’t handle them. I love you @saucey07.”
She wrote in another Story how they received “messages far more graphic” than the one he posted and that “each” had gambling ties.
“A lot of people have mentioned that those people are most likely gamblers and you are 100% correct,” she wrote. “Each vile message contain reasoning of losing money based on the game. All I can say is – maybe stop gambling money you don’t have to lose. Taylor is not a character on your TV, he is a human being and he is by far the most accountable one I know.
“He wears every mistake and every loss and is never satisfied even on his best days. The last things he needs is to come back to hundreds of threats and evil messages. Nor do his teammates or opponents as this is sadly just a part of the territory.”
Former Mariners star Mike Cameron responded to the post telling Saucedo to mute his notifications, while also recommending they he report the behavior to MLB.
Saucedo noted in a follow-up post that he likes the opportunities social media normally provides for athletes, with this instance representing the downside.
“I see a lot of people saying turn off notifications but I’d like to say this, I keep them partially open because I like interacting with fans. Today was an example of going too far. No matter the reason we cannot send this stuff especially to people not involved. I share the same exact love you all do for the Mariners. Ever since I was kid it’s the only team I’ve ever loved,” Saucedo wrote.
“I totally understand that there is more good people on the internet then there is bad and if I’m ready to receive the praise then I better welcome the criticism as well. So I won’t run from the critics that’s part of it and if I don’t like it then well I just have to play better. I didn’t get to where I am today because I only reveled in praise but because I got real comfortable with failure. I won’t let a few bad apples ruin that for me and everyone else I’ve gotten to know since my time here. I’ve already played 9 innings with my mental health and won that, so there’s nothing people can tell me that I’ve already told myself. With anything we keep it moving forward! Thank you all for the love as always. Go Mariners always!”
This interaction happened amid the Mariners falling 1 1/2 games back of the Astros in the AL West and dropping to the No. 6 seed in the AL playoff race.
Seattle will aim to get back on track Friday night at home against the A’s.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
