Suspended Rays Star Wander Franco Admitted to Mental Health Facility After Conviction

Suspended Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was detained by police and admitted to a private mental health facility in his hometown of Baní, Dominican Republic, nearly three months after being convicted of sexually abusing a minor, Dominican authorities said.

Col. Diego Pesqueira, a police spokesman, told The Associated Press the request to detain and admit Franco came from his family and that the admittance is not linked to ongoing legal proceedings. Franco, 24, has not returned to Major League Baseball since criminal allegations surfaced in 2023 and his playing status remains unresolved.

In June, a Dominican court convicted Franco of sexually abusing a minor and handed down a two-year suspended sentence, a ruling that allows him to remain in the Dominican Republic. The conviction stems from an arrest in 2024, when authorities accused him of maintaining a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time and of transferring thousands of dollars to the girl’s mother to obtain consent for the relationship.

Franco’s legal troubles date back further. In November 2023 Dominican authorities announced they were investigating allegations against him, and he was arrested again later that year after what police described as an altercation over a woman’s attention. That arrest resulted in a charge that he illegally carried a semiautomatic Glock 19 that police said was registered to his uncle; that case remains pending in court.

Six months after his 2024 arrest, the Rays placed Franco on the restricted list, a move that ended the payment he had been receiving while on administrative leave and effectively removed him from team activities. The team said at the time Franco did not report to the club and would need a new U.S. visa before returning. The club has not announced any further roster decisions since the conviction.

Franco’s baseball trajectory once pointed toward stardom. The Dominican-born shortstop signed an 11-year, $182 million contract with Tampa Bay in November 2021 and earned All-Star honors in 2023 while helping the Rays contend for postseason berths. His career has been interrupted repeatedly by investigations, arrests and the current legal proceedings, and his immediate future in MLB is unclear.

Last weekend the player posted on social media alleging that $16,000 had been stolen from a resort where he was staying. His attorney, Teodosio Jáquez, later characterized the report as a misunderstanding and said the money had been located; Franco disputed that account and maintained the funds were stolen.

Officials in the Dominican Republic have emphasized that Franco’s admittance to the clinic was initiated by his family and is separate from the criminal matters he faces. The suspended sentence delivered in June means Franco is not serving immediate jail time for the conviction, but it does not resolve other pending charges or the professional consequences that have left him off the field.

Franco has said in recent months that he continues to train, but there has been no public indication that he has resumed team activities or that Major League Baseball has cleared him to play. The firearm case and the conviction for sexually abusing a minor remain on the legal docket, and any future movement in those matters could affect his immigration status, roster eligibility and contractual relationship with the Rays.

The Rays organization and Major League Baseball did not immediately provide comment on Franco’s reported admittance to the mental health facility. Dominican police have not released additional medical details beyond confirming the family request and the location of the private clinic in Baní.