Yanks’ Chapman says Latin players ‘easy targets’

7:13 PM ET

New York Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, who is serving a 30-game suspension under Major League Baseball’s new domestic violence policy, suggested during a recent interview with The New York Times that foreign-born Latin players’ unfamiliarity with American culture and newfound celebrity and wealth can make them easy targets for people who may try to take advantage of them.

“Unfortunately, that is the way it is,” Chapman told the Times, which published its report on the interview Saturday. “We make a lot of money, everyone wants a piece of it, and we end up looking bad.”

Chapman is set to rejoin the Yankees on Monday after being suspended for his alleged involvement in a domestic incident last October. The Cuban left-hander reiterated to the Times that he “didn’t do anything,” saying that he was only arguing with his girlfriend and that “Latin people are loud when we argue.”

“When I had the problem, everyone thinks I did something wrong; in social media, people are saying I hit my girlfriend,” he said.

Chapman, who did not appeal the suspension, is one of four players who have been investigated under baseball’s domestic violence policy, which MLB and the players’ union agreed to last August. Two of the players — Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig and Atlanta Braves infielder Hector Olivera — are Cuban while the other player, Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes, is from the Dominican Republic.

Chapman didn’t make it clear in the piece if he meant Latin players are targets of baseball’s domestic violence program, nor did he specifically identify who was out to harm Latin players, but he told ESPN’s Marly Rivera later Sunday that he was “referring to things in general.”

“Many of us Latin players arrive here in this country and we don’t know much about how the legal …

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