Back in July I wrote about the brawl between the Peoria Chiefs and Dayton Dragons, where pitcher Julio Castillo hurled a ball at the Dragons’ dugout but missed and plunked a fan in the forehead instead.

Melissa Issacson at the Tribune has a column today about Castillo’s recent indictment, how the Cubs have stood by their man. I’m all about innocent until proven guilty and for equal opportunity in this country, but here’s my main problem with the whole issue:

Castillo does not speak English. He also has a 2nd-grade education and no real options outside of baseball. He had to surrender his passport and his visa, so he quite literally would have nowhere to go if not for the Cubs.

Can we please stop looking up to pro athletes as role models in this country? A man with a second-grade education is not someone to look up to. He’s just a piece of meat who’s a blown elbow away from being back in the Dominican Republic showing off his Tommy John scar talking about what might have been.