Miguel Rojas' explanation for hazing Jazz Chisholm makes whole situation even worse

Just a few days before the start of the 2024 season, Jazz Chisholm appeared on "The Pivot" podcast and didn't mince words about his experience as a Miami Marlin, which he called the "worst three years of probably my life." He didn't name names, but he added that a veteran widely accepted as the team's captain was "not a good captain, not a good person, not even a good athlete at this point."

It didn't take fans long to put the pieces together and identify that captain as Miguel Rojas, who overlapped with Chisholm in Miami from 2018-2020, after Chisholm was called up. Rojas responded on The Chris Rose Rotation just a few days later, saying, "Everybody's entitled to have their own opinion. Whatever you want to say about me as a player, you can have that opinion. But you saying that I'm a bad person when you don't even know me, that's what bothers me."

Rojas was also spotted jawing at the Marlins' dugout during a series in May; although the broadcast didn't show who he was talking to, and Rojas brushed it off in the aftermath, it did hint at even more unrest to come between him and Chisholm.

In an interview with The Athletic, just over a year after he made that initial podcast appearance, Chisholm provided more anecdotes about his time as teammates with Rojas, and this time, he did name names. The following anecdote quickly went viral online, and it's a really bad look for Rojas, to say the least:

"When Chisholm arrived in the big leagues in 2020, he brought 20 custom pairs of cleats that he bought and designed himself. They displayed his passions, from Oreo cookies, to the anime series 'Black Clover,' and even the video game, 'Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.'"

"Marlins infielder Miguel Rojas did not see artistry. Rojas saw a flashy rookie who needed to be put in his place. That meant taking a pair of those custom cleats and cutting them up with scissors. That meant ruining another pair of shoes by filling them with milk."

Rojas was asked to respond ahead of the Dodgers' Home Opener against the Tigers. He said, "I don't need to defend myself, to be honest."

Dodgers' Miguel Rojas had a pretty terrible response to new accusations from former teammate Jazz Chisholm

That's just ... not good enough, dude.

Rojas continued, "There's people who are going to air out what's happening in a clubhouse and I'm not really going to talk about it. I have my own opinions on what transpired, but I'm going to be professional and keep it in-house."

If professionalism is really Rojas' biggest concern here, it sort of seems like the more professional thing to do would be to acknowledge wrongdoing (Rojas never outright denied that the events took place) and apologize for it. Of course, there's also the high probability that he's totally unrepentant, which is also ... a really bad look!

Chisholm's account was corroborated by an anonymous person in the Marlins' clubhouse at the time, so there's almost no question that the incident actually took place. Rojas shouldn't have dug his heels in here. He was clearly in the wrong, and maybe just apologizing would've put this all to bed without incident.