Players go faceless in profile pics after MLB scrubs their likenesses

Social media platforms like Twitter are places for plenty of statements and plenty of fun, timely jokes. Baseball players are making their own statement with profile pictures hours after Major League Baseball locked them out.

At least 14 players have changed their Twitter profile picture to an image of a generic head, the same one MLB replaced all player images with on team websites.

The league also removed any stories about active players from its site. What is left are stories about the CBA negotiations and looking at the past. Every team’s website is filled with various stories looking at top seasons, trades, moments and more.

“Until a new agreement is reached, there will be limitations on the content we display,” a statement on MLB.com says. “As a result, you will see a lot more content that focuses on the game’s rich history. Once a new agreement is reached, the up-to-the-minute news and analysis you have come to expect will continue as usual.”

The players responded using social media. Some of them have simply tweeted their new profile picture, no matter how badly cropped, to the world.

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/WJIYiMYU5l

— Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) December 2, 2021

Others have gone a bit further in playing into the lockout, including New York Yankees pitcher Jameson Taillon.

Since MLB chose to lock us out, i’m not able to work with our amazing team Physical Therapists who have been leading my post surgery care/progression. Now that I’m in charge of my own PT- what should my first order of business be? I’m thinking I’m done with this boot. It can go😎

— Jameson Taillon (@JTaillon50) December 2, 2021

New York Mets pitcher Trevor Williams tweeted yesterday his appreciation of the new profile picture trend.

“It’s amazing to see players around the league change their avi in solidarity,” Williams tweeted. “MLB can take away our image, but never our LIKENESS!”

He later tweeted that he had “no idea what likeness means.”