Chicago White Sox Speak Out Against Fan's Comment Toward Ketel Marte

CHICAGO –– White Sox manager Will Venable and infielder Josh Rojas, who played for the Diamondbacks from 2019-23, spoke out against a White Sox fan's comment that sparked an emotional reaction from Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte during Tuesday's game at Rate Field.

The Arizona Republic reported that a fan yelled derogatory comments about Marte's mother, who died in a car accident in 2017.

"Really unfortunate incident," Venable said. "No players should ever have to be subjected to that kind of stuff from fans. And you know, that is not reflective of anything that I've seen from these White Sox fans. They've been extremely positive and extremely supportive, and for Ketel to have to experience that is extremely disappointing. I sent my apologies over to them last night, and I know a number of us have and, you know, apologize again for what is not representative of how our fans behave and just something that no players should be subjected to."

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo heard the comment and asked for the fan to be ejected, according to ESPN's Jesse Rogers, who also reported that it's not publicly known what the fan said to upset the 11-year veteran.

The fan has been banned indefinitely from Rate Field, a decision with which Venable supported. During Wednesday's game, a message on the video board read, "Baseball is family. The White Sox community supports Ketel Marte."

We're with you, @ketel_marte4 🫶 pic.twitter.com/1F7j5fFz8K
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 25, 2025

"I know that there's precedent for those types of things. You know, obviously, that type of behavior is not acceptable here," Venable said. "And then, absolutely, anybody who is engaging in that kind of stuff is not going to be welcome."

After seeing Marte's reaction, Lovullo went out on the field and put his arm around his player in support.

Sending love to Ketel Marte who was in tears on the field after a fan yelled something at him about his mother, who passed away in a car accident in 2017, per @CDrottar19 pic.twitter.com/I14Zc1gkV1
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 25, 2025

"It was a terrible moment. Fans are nasty and fans go too far sometimes," Lovullo said. "I love my players, and I'm going to protect them. I've known Ketel for nine years, and he's had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life and I know those. At the end of the day, we're human being and we have emotions and I saw him hurting and I wanted to protect him. [I told Marte] I love you and I'm with you, and we're all together and you're not alone. No matter what happens or what was said or what you heard, that guy's an idiot and should have an impact on you."

The moment hit home for Rojas, who was teammates with Marte for part of five seasons. Rojas called Marte "the best" and "a great teammate," someone who always kept the clubhouse loose and fun. He said the amount of support Marte received on the field spoke to what he means to their team.

Rojas said there have been moments in his career when he's felt the need to say something back to a fan or stand up for himself, but he never experienced something to the extent of Marte's situation.

"I've never experienced anything like that. That's a tough situation. You feel for him," Rojas said. "Yeah, it's sad. It's sad to know that fans go to that point to try to chirp. You feel like – yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing that comes to mind is like I think fans kind of get caught up in the sport and forget that we're still human beings. I think when something like that happens, it kind of opens people's eyes to remember these are real humans with real feelings and real stuff going on outside of the field."

"I wouldn't say that just because that happened that everybody here is like that because they're not. I think it's a very friendly atmosphere. I think there's a lot of chirping going on. I think there was just one person that took it a little too far."

Venable, who played in MLB from 2008-16 and became a coach after his career, also mentioned that players are often subject to unwanted comments from fans, and there's a line that can be crossed.

"When it’s personalized and that’s without even knowing people’s history," Venable said. "You know there are lines you cannot cross and you know when you hear it, you’re always going to speak up for it and I thought Torey did a great job of handling that last night. There’s lines and you can’t cross them."

"It’s tough. It’s part of it. For me, experiencing it, realizing they're not talking to me personally, it’s my uniform and happen to be the dude wearing it. At the same time, you hear some personal stuff that’s also unacceptable. It’s hard to deal with it, and last night’s a great example of how challenging it can be and these players across the league are hearing this stuff. It’s unfortunate, but you just deal with it."

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