Atkins: Our responsibility staff feels safe

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said Thursday that he was “absolutely not” made aware of the allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Mickey Callaway while both were in the Cleveland organization.

Atkins was Cleveland’s farm director when Callaway was hired as a Minor League pitching coach in 2010 and eventually rose to Major League pitching coach in '13, a position he held for five years. At the time Callaway was promoted into that role, current president and CEO of the Blue Jays, Mark Shapiro, was Cleveland’s president, while Atkins was the club’s vice president of player development.

“I regret that,” Atkins said. “As a leader, it’s our responsibility to ensure that our staff feels safe and supported. I deeply apologize to anyone who ever faced harassment or didn’t feel comfortable to come forward. This is the type of behaviour that is not tolerated and should not be tolerated, and something that we need to work harder on in the game, in the industry and in this world.”

The allegations, which have been reported by The Athletic, detail inappropriate behaviour by Callaway to at least five different women during his time in Cleveland, New York and Los Angeles. This included unsolicited contact via email, text messages and social media platforms, some of which contained lewd photographs and requests for photographs from the women.

Atkins defined this as a failure in the organization’s process, something he feel has “drastically improved” over the 10 years of his career -- the past five-plus of which have come with the Blue Jays.

“As a leader in that organization, that’s heartbreaking for me,” Atkins continued. “My thoughts immediately went to the women I work with here today, the women I worked with in Cleveland. I’m heartbroken that we weren’t creating the right environment for someone to come forward.”

With the Blue Jays, Atkins says he is now focused on building a more diverse organization that not only includes more women, but people from a broader variety of backgrounds with different skillsets. This applies to the people being hired, but also the people involved in the hiring process itself. Atkins stated that he is confident in the club’s current process and its continued evolution, but he added that there is no room for complacency.

As an organization, the Blue Jays are still “far too male and far too white,” Atkins admitted, but his vision for the organization’s future looks different.

“A true reflection of our population in the workplace and workforce, where it is truly balanced and indicative of the cities and the countries and the world that we’re living in,” Atkins said. “I’ve always felt that way. One of the things I’ve struggled with the most working in professional sports is the lack of diversity, and certainly as it relates to the lack of gender diversity.”

Beyond the front office and coaching levels, this issue is also being addressed at the player level. Atkins says that he and the Blue Jays are working with the women in their organization to develop ways to educate the players in the early stages of their careers on what is and is not appropriate behaviour.