Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. tops pre-arbitration bonus pool at nearly $3.1 million

NEW YORK (AP) — Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. topped this year's pre-arbitration bonus pool at $3,077,595 and Pittsburgh pitcher Paul Skenes was second at $2,152,057 despite not making his big league debut until May 11.

Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson was third at $2,007,178, followed by Milwaukee catcher William Contreras at $1,722,174 and Kansas City pitcher Cole Ragans at $1,638,013, according to figures compiled by Major League Baseball and the players’ association.

Also topping $1 million were Boston outfielder Jarren Duran at $1,321,661, San Diego outfielder Jackson Merrill at $1,191,534 and New York Yankees pitcher Luis Gil at $1,098,628.

Baltimore outfielder Colton Cowser was ninth at $978,671, followed by Milwaukee outfielder Jackson Chourio at $901,335, Cincinnati shortstop Elly De La Cruz at $860,710 and Athletics reliever Mason Miller at $825,276.

MLB and the union agreed to the annual pool in their March 2022 labor settlement in an effort to get more money to younger players.

Witt, runner-up to the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting, has received $4,202,126 from the pool in its three years.

Seattle outfielder Julio Rodríguez earned $509,957 after topping the list last season. He raised his three-year total to $3,926,156.

Henderson has earned $3,435,149, Contreras $2,808,762, Carroll $2,347,870, Ragans $2,019,346, Duran $1,659,673 and De La Cruz $1,130,087.

Some of the players have long-term contracts. Witt agreed in February to an 11-year deal worth $288.7 million and Chourio, who was 10th at $901,335, agreed last December to am $82 million, eight-year deal, the largest for a player yet to make his big league debut.

A total of 101 players will receive the payments under a plan aimed to get more money to players without sufficient service time for salary arbitration eligibility going into the season, which was 2 years, 118 days. Players signed as foreign professionals are not eligible.

Milwaukee had the most players receive money with eight, followed by Detroit with seven and Arizona, Cleveland and Seattle with six each.

An eligible player receives $2.5 million for winning a MVP or Cy Young Award, $1.75 million for second in the voting, $1.5 million for third, $1 million for fourth, fifth or selection to the all-MLB first team, $750,000 for Rookie of the Year, $500,000 for second in Rookie of the Year voting or all-MLB second team.

All-MLB teams are voted by fans, media members, broadcasters, former players and officials.

A player is eligible to receive the bonus for one achievement per year, earning only the highest amount. The remaining money is allocated by a WAR formula.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com

FILE - Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. throws out New York Yankees' Gleyber Torres at first during the first inning in Game 3 of an American League Division baseball playoff series, Oct. 9, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her – making national headlines that stirred tensions about race, class and the privilege of college athletes -- has admitted publicly for the first time that she made up the story.

Crystal Mangum, who is Black, said in an interview with the “Let’s Talk with Kat” podcast that she “made up a story that wasn't true” about the white players who attended a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper “because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”

“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong,” Mangum, 46, said in the interview, which was released Monday. The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is incarcerated for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.

The former Duke players were declared innocent in 2007 after Mangum's story fell apart under legal scrutiny. The state attorney general’s office concluded there was no credible evidence an attack ever occurred, and its investigation found no DNA, witness or other evidence to confirm Mangum’s story.

Despite their names being cleared, Jim Cooney, one of the former players' lawyers at the time, told The Associated Press that Mangum's allegations caused an “enormous tornado of destruction” for countless people involved, including the accused men. They were wrongfully vilified nationally as “racially motivated rapists,” Cooney said.

The Durham prosecutor who championed Mangum’s case was disbarred for lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to press charges against Mangum for the false accusations.

The former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement with Duke University in 2007 after suing it for the handling of the rape allegations.

Mangum, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and is eligible to be released from prison as early as 2026, told the podcast interviewer that she hopes the three falsely accused men can forgive her.

“I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that,” she said.

Durham-based podcaster Kat DePasquale said she wrote to Mangum because she was curious about the case that got so much attention, and that Mangum wrote back saying she wanted to talk.

Mangum's apology struck Cooney as sincere and “a good first step,” but he said the decision to forgive her is ultimately up to the three former lacrosse players.

“It's going to be a part of their biography for the rest of their lives and part of their obituaries,” Cooney said of the three men.

FILE - Crystal Mangum, who falsely accused Duke lacrosse players of rape, addresses the media during a news conference in Durham, N.C., on Oct. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Sara D. Davis, File)