Draftee Rolison, Rockies address 'stupid' tweet

DENVER -- Shortly after the Rockies selected Ryan Rolison with the 22nd overall pick in the MLB Draft on Monday night, it was discovered that the left-handed pitcher from the University of Mississippi had posted an ill-advised tweet about President Obama on election night in 2012.
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"Well we have one hope left … if someone shoots him during his speech," said the tweet, which was deleted on Monday night after Rolison was drafted.
Rolison expressed his regret on Tuesday at posting the tweet in the first place.

"It was a stupid tweet and immature of me," Rolison said on a conference call with reporters. "I had no idea what I was talking about, and it was immature of me to post something like that. People know that's not who I am, and I think the Colorado Rockies know that's not who I am."
Rolison was 15 years old when he posted the tweet.
Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich reiterated what Rolison said, adding that the tweet was "regrettable."

"If there was some sort of pattern of behavior, then we would be talking about a whole different thing," Bridich said. "In this world that we live in, in this Twitterverse, these sorts of things are going to happen -- especially when it's fully available to individuals who are not yet adults or who are not thinking like adults."
Bridich and vice president of scouting Bill Schmidt said that the Rockies do look at players' social media accounts.
"We know Ryan is a good person and have had many conversations, and our people got to know him," Bridich said. "I think it's an opportunity to learn a lesson and move on to baseball, and I appreciate Ryan being upfront about it. We look forward to him being a part of our organization."