Randy Arozarena said he apologized to Cal Raleigh following his comments toward his Seattle Mariners teammate earlier this month at the World Baseball Classic.
“I understand that with Opening Day a few days away, I don’t want it to be a distraction,” Arozarena said in a statement released Saturday by the Mariners. “Cal and I have talked and I apologized for what I said after the game. Nothing in the WBC takes away from the fact that we are brothers and teammates.”
Playing for Mexico, Arozarena offered to shake the hand of Raleigh before a first-inning at-bat during the United States’ 5-3 victory over Mexico in a Pool B game in Houston on March 9. Raleigh refused, with the Americans reportedly having a philosophy against such things during games.
Arozarena then lashed out in a profanity-laced rant to a Mexican journalist after the game.
“We talked it out, and everything went great,” Raleigh said. “Randy knows that I love him, and he’s a brother, and it’s in the past and none of us are carrying this forward. We’re in a good spot. We talked it out. We were both sorry, and we both got in a good place and we’re both happy to be here, too.
“It was really good walking in the door and seeing everybody. As fun as [the WBC] was, it was nice to feel back here. It feels like the family’s all back together in a way.”
