Writer For 'The Athletic' Apologizes To Miguel Rojas Over False PED Report

In the world of "prestige" sports journalism, The Athletic likes to think of itself as head and shoulders above the competition. But even its writers aren't immune to the occasional faceplant.

Evan Drellich, a senior writer for the outlet, recently flubbed a PED report so badly that it sparked widespread calls for an apology after he wrongly accused Dodgers veteran Miguel Rojas of a violation.

On Monday, Drellich blasted out to his massive following that the heart-and-soul veteran of the Los Angeles Dodgers was heading to the shelf for 80 games.

The actual suspension belonged to Johan Rojas, an outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies. Somehow, Drellich skipped over the "Johan" and the "Phillies" part and put a target on the back of a reigning World Series hero instead. He eventually did the standard corporate "delete-and-correct" dance, but the damage was done.

On Wednesday, Drellich issued a public apology on X:

"To Miguel Rojas and the Dodgers, I sincerely and publicly apologize. I’ve reached out to Miguel, the Dodgers and Miguel’s agent to say the same. Once again, I’m sorry."

He added, "I’ve deleted a post incorrectly identifying who was suspended today. It was Johan Rojas of the Philadelphia Phillies who was suspended."

Miggy Ro felt that his reputation was dragged through the mud. Rojas didn’t hold back when he sat down with Chris Rose on Wednesday, making it clear the "oopsie" felt more like gross negligence:

"He didn’t mistype my name. He did it with all the intention to put my name and the organization’s name on that tweet. You don’t even know how Andrew Friedman [Dodgers President] felt after these accusations that, for six minutes, rumbled my whole world and got so many people around me and around us, the team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, worried, because one guy 'made a mistake.'"

Rojas continued, "I’m totally OK with making mistakes, but at the end of the day, I was expecting an apology. I’m not asking for an apology for me, but he mentioned the Los Angeles Dodgers organization as well, and I really respect that. I’m going to talk to you about this, and this is the only person that I’m going to talk to about this issue because I don’t want to make it a big deal, and I don’t want to make it about myself. But I feel like, as a reporter, you have to have some ability to be a professional."

When Rose suggested the lack of personal outreach was "bulls**t," Rojas agreed.

"Yeah, it is bulls**t."

For a guy at The Athletic, it’s a poverty-franchise look.

Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela