Jose Reyes Suspended For 52 Games: MLB Makes An Example Out Of Player, Costing Him More Than $7 Million In Salary

According to Think Progress, Jose Reyes has received the harshest response the Major League Baseball (MLB) has ever issued to a player for domestic violence as he has been suspended from 52 games without pay.

The 52-game suspension of Jose Reyes is the result of an incident between him and his wife from last Halloween. At the time, Reyes was arrested for assaulting his wife, Katherine. Jose and Katherine, who is also the mother of his three daughters, were in a hotel room in Hawaii at the time of the incident.

Think Progress reported that Jose and his wife were having a loud and heated argument during the afternoon. The argument resulted in the security of the hotel being called to the scene. The hotel security ended up calling the cops. Katherine told the officer who responded to the phone call that Reyes “grabbed her off the bed and shoved her” and “grabbed her throat and shoved her into the sliding glass balcony door.”

Reyes’ wife was taken to the hospital for her injuries from the incident. It was reported that she had injuries on her neck, wrist, and thigh. When Katherine stopped working with the authorities, the charges against Jose Reyes were dropped just a month ago.

Sports Illustrated reported that Reyes was on paid administrative leave since the end of February. Since the Major League Baseball announced the 52-game suspension of Jose Reyes, he will be unable to return to minors or majors until June 1. As the suspension is retroactive, he will also be required to pay back the portion of the salary he already received this far. The MLB is also requiring Jose Reyes to donate $100,000 to a charity that focuses on domestic violence. During this 52-game suspension, Reyes will not receive pay and will lose roughly $7.06 million from his salary as well as the $100,000 he is required to donate to charity.

Jose Reyes suspended until May 31 for domestic violence arrest https://t.co/1v0C2fvnkl pic.twitter.com/aUmPGYK1ko

— NewsEngine (@NewsEngineAI) May 14, 2016

2016 is the first year the MLB has ever suspended a player for domestic-violence-related incidents. After the NFL received so much scrutiny for how the Ray Rice case was handled, the MLB decided to revamp their policies regarding sexual assault and domestic violence. With the new policy, the MLB has the right to punish their players even if they were not convicted through legal channels. It is likely the MLB used the incident between Reyes and his wife to demonstrate how serious they are with the new policy as the 52-game suspension is one of the harshest punishments the league has ever issued to a player.

Jose Reyes is actually the second player to be suspended under the new policy. Aldonis Chapman, pitcher of the Yankees, became the first player to be suspended under the new policy when he received a suspension of 30 games after he was accused of choking his girlfriend during a fight. According to Think Progress, the fight between Chapman and his girlfriend was so intense that she hid in the bushes while Aldonis fired off eight “warning shots”.

It was just last week that Chapman returned to the team with a warm welcome.

Jose Reyes will not be appealing his suspension. In fact, Reyes released a statement on Friday apologizing for “everything that has happened”. While he did not go into detail in the statement, he did thank his wife for continuing to stay by his side during everything that has happened.

“I want to apologize for everything that has happened. I am sorry to the Rockies organization, my teammates, all the fans and most of all my family.

“I am happy to put this all in the past and get back to doing what I love the most, playing baseball.

“My wife Katherine has remained by my side throughout everything and for that I will be forever grateful.”

Do you think the MLB is taking the right approach to domestic violence?

[Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images]