Baseball coaches and scouts are easily ensnared by lanky, young pitchers with a consistent or ‘repeatable’ delivery. Add in a fastball exceeding 90mph, and a teenage hurler can expect to receive interest from elite college programs, if not Major League teams.
That was the case with Isaiah Carranza, a 6ft5 righty from La Verne, California, who was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2015, only to pitch for the University of Oregon and later go to the Chicago White Sox in the 2018 MLB Draft.
‘I always had what I was told was a live arm,’ Carranza, now 29, told the Daily Mail. ‘I remember even some of the coaches were like, “You’re blessed with a gifted arm.” And even through college and pro ball, I was repeatable, I was smooth… It looked easy when I pitched; it was effortless.’
Now a $19-an-hour Lululemon sales associate, Carranza is suing the White Sox and Major League Baseball over allegations of discrimination and negligence. His $20million-plus federal lawsuit claims his downfall as a pitcher began in 2021 when he and other minor leaguers faced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Carranza’s lawsuit lists his alleged physical issues, including intense nausea, blurred and tunnel vision, numbness in his extremities, light headedness, an elevated heart rate, extreme fatigue and migraine headaches. The lawsuit further claims the White Sox were ‘dismissive’ of his complaints and encouraged Carranza to see a therapist, who suspected suppressed childhood trauma rather than any vaccine side effect.
Carranza was also unravelling on the mound, where he suddenly struggled to see catchers’ hand signals. By 2023, his baseball career was effectively over.
Isaiah Carranza was drafted twice, once in 2015 and again in 2018, before joining the White Sox organization’s Winston-Salem Dash. He would go on to pitch two minor-league seasons
Isaiah Carranza is seen pitching for Azusa Pacific University prior to being drafted in 2018
According to the lawsuit obtained by the Daily Mail, Carranza had no real choice when it came to the COVID-19 vaccine. The complaint claims Carranza was told he’d be ‘blacklisted’ if he refused the injection, meaning he’d be sidelined while Chicago retained his rights, thereby preventing him from pursuing his MLB dreams with another organization.
‘I wasn’t against the vaccine,’ said Carranza, a new father whose own daughter received the recommended childhood vaccinations. ‘[Teammates and I] were questioning [the vaccine] as professional athletes. We weren’t the high-risk group… We started to really ask, like: “Hey, is this meant for us?”
‘And that’s when we were repeatedly told that we didn’t have a choice. If we didn’t get it, then we were blacklisted, essentially,’ Carranza told the Daily Mail, echoing the allegations contained in the complaint.
MLB players faced no such mandate. And although big leaguers who refused the injection were subject to more local government regulations, they weren’t penalized any further by the league office.
Minor leaguers, on the other hand, did not have any union representation until 2022, when they joined the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA).
Isaiah Carranza pitched for the Single-A Winston-Salem Drive for two seasons
What’s more, they were at the mercy of team trainers and medical staff. So, when Carranza expressed concern about his ailing body’s impact on his performance, coaches and trainers with the Single-A Winston-Salem Dash urged him to ‘pitch on a strict throwing schedule,’ according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims one White Sox physician blamed Carranza’s problems on ‘caffeine, allergy medication, and ibuprofen, none of which had ever caused Plaintiff to experience such an episode.
‘Plaintiff inquired if the vaccine may have possibly led to an adverse reaction and was immediately told that it was not possible,’ Carranza’s attorneys continued in the complaint.
Coming off elbow surgery, Carranza posted an unsightly 6.25 earned-run average (ERA) in 2021, but things only got worse in 2022 as his ERA spiked to 11.40.
With Carranza’s rookie contract waning, the team gave him the choice of pitching in 2023 or sitting out the remainder of the year, according to the lawsuit. But although he tried to pitch, working two simulated innings during spring training, Carranza claimed in the filing that he was unable to continue due to elevated heart rate and balance issues.
He was ultimately released in January of 2024 but not until after a White Sox trainer allegedly told Carranza he was likely dealing with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), according to the complaint. Crucially, the lawsuit claims, that trainer said the team was denying any connection between Carranza’s condition and the COVID-19 vaccination.
But not everyone agrees with that assessment.
Carranza is pictured (left) alongside former Major League outfielder Shane Victorino
Isaiah Carranza is pictured in his younger days as a little leaguer growing up in California
The complaint reports Carranza has been diagnosed with vaccine-induced POTS by renowned cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough. That rare condition was found in just 268 of 100,000 adults, according to a 2022 study published by the National heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
The complaint also claims Carranza’s diagnosis is supported by elevated spike protein levels and autonomic dysfunction – both reported symptoms of patients experiencing adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Carranza is now looking to cover the $557,690 in future medical expenses he expects to face, according to a care plan cited in the complaint and reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Then there are the wages Carranza believes he’s lost as a consequence of being forced to take the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. A vocational economics firm puts that figure somewhere between $3.4 million and $20 million, as seen in a separate report reviewed by the Daily Daily and also cited in the complaint.
Carranza has since been diagnosed with vaccine-induced POTS, which is considered rare
Carranza is pictured on the mound at Oregon, where his fastball easily exceeded 90mph
Neither the White Sox nor MLB spokespeople responded to the Daily Mail’s request for comment. Team spokespeople previously declined to speak to other outlets about the ongoing legal matter.
While Carranza’s attorneys are pushing for a jury trial, the White Sox have filed to dismiss the case entirely – a motion the judge is expected to rule on in late April.
Carranza remains deeply unnerved by the experience, and not just because of the loss of future earnings or the game he still loves. Referring to the allegations detailed in his complaint, Carranza echoed his claim that the team denied his health issues were related to the COVID vaccine or baseball.
‘The medical negligence,’ he concluded, ‘that’s why we’re bringing this suit to light.’
