After a tough start by Lance McCullers Jr., the Astros pitcher’s family has received death threats online, which led to a conversation that no parent wants to have with their 5-year-old daughter.

McCuller’s daughter, Ava, overheard his wife, Kara, talking on the phone about the death threats, which led to the painful conversation.

“She asked me when I came home: ‘Daddy, like, what is threats? Who wants to hurt us? Who wants to hurt me?'” McCullers told reporters. “So those conversations are tough to deal with.”

McCullers is one of two MLB pitchers whose families received online death threats this month, as Boston Red Sox reliever Liam Hendriks took to social media soon after the incident with McCullers to call out people who were threatening Hendriks’ wife’s life and directing “vile” comments at him.

The Houston Astros contacted MLB security and the Houston police Department following the threats to McCullers.

McCullers took immediate action after the threats that were made toward his family, as he reached out to the team to inquire about what could be done to protect them. Astros’ owner Jim Crane stepped in and hired 24-hour security for McCuller’s family.

Players around the league agree that online abuse has gotten worse over the years. Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich said receiving online abuse is “a nightly thing” for most players.

“I think over the last few years it’s definitely increased,” he said to ESPN. “It’s increased to the point that you’re just: ‘All right, here we go.’ It doesn’t even really register on your radar anymore. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. You’re just so used to that on a day-to-day, night-to-night basis. It’s not just me. It’s everybody in here, based on performance.”

Many players believe that it’s directly linked to the rise of legalized sports betting.

“You get a lot of DMs or stuff like that about you running someone’s bet or something ridiculous like that,” veteran Red Sox reliever Justin Wilson said to ESPN. I guess they should make better bets.”

Houston Astros star pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. will miss the 2023 season after receiving forearm surgery to repair a flexor tendon and remove a bone spur. McCullers has only made 34 starts since 2021 but is expected to return in 2024.

Astros general manager Dana Brown announced McCullers’ injury update Wednesday and clarified in a statement that the righthander made several attempts to return to the mound in 2023. He first suffered the injury to his flexor tendon during the 2021 playoffs and has suffered multiple setbacks since, most recently in February this year. He previously missed the entire 2019 season due to Tommy John surgery.

“After the injury happened in February, Lance worked his tail off to get back on the mound,” Brown said in a statement. “This guy is a warrior and did everything in his power to get back. But each time he built himself up to an increased pitch total off the mound, the pain would come back. It’s unfortunate, but we look forward to him being back on the mound next season.”

In 2022, McCullers returned in August and made eight regular season starts, compiling a 4-2 record with a 2.27 ERA. In the playoffs, he started in series against the Mariners, Yankees and Phillies, earning another World Series ring in the process. He has spent the entirety of his professional career in Houston, debuting in 2015 and making on one All-Star game appearance in 2017.

“Lance is a grinder, and he tried to, with pure grit, fight through the injury and come back,” Brown went on to say. “That happened in ’21, and in ’22, he ended up coming back some. You could give him cheers for his grit to come back. Starting out this year, he felt like he was going to be fine and continue to press through it and it continued to bother him.”

By the time McCullers returns for the Astros next year, he could be 30 years old, and despite debuting at the age of 21, he has only managed to make more than 25 starts in a single season once. His impact on the mound after multiple surgeries is unclear and he still has several years remaining on his contract.

Major League Baseball has instituted a new rule designed to limit mound visits, and Lance McCullers Jr. isn’t having it.

MLB new mound visits rule news

The 24-year-old Houston Astros pitcher slammed MLB and ESPN — which was showing World Series Game 7 highlights and noting the number of visits to the mound — on Twitter for the new rule, which dictates only six mound visits are permitted per contest.

McCullers’ tweets, shared early Tuesday morning, have since been deleted.

One read: “@espn displaying mound visits today of Game 7 in the WORLD SERIES like that’s a standard game. That game decides everything and WE, as pitcher/catcher, have to combat sign stealing (cheating). Y’all never talk baseball, show baseball or care. Save your BS for s— first take.”

In another since-deleted tweet, McCullers noted how the new rules would affect the game: “You think I want to break rhythm and tempo during a game to talk about signs behind my glove? No, it’s a necessary reaction to an issue we, as pitchers and catcher, are facing. I guess enforcing the integrity by hitting batters is better than an extra 4 minutes to discuss signs.”

The new rule, co-instituted with the MLB Players Association, is meant to speed up the pace of play.

Despite the addition of this rule, MLB decided against 20-second pitch clocks for 2018. To address players’ concerns about sign-stealing, MLB announced it will install new telephone lines from dugouts to video replay rooms. The league said the lines will be monitored.

“I am pleased that we were able to reach an understanding with the players association,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “My strong preference is to continue to have ongoing dialogue with players on this topic to find mutually acceptable solutions.”

Union head Tony Clark noted the two sides technically did not reach a deal. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora voiced concern that changing signs between a pitcher and catcher without a mound visit can result in a safety issue.

“I understand we want to speed up the game. I get it. We don’t want as much dead time during the game,” Cora said. “But that’s one that’s an interesting one because we know what’s going on around the league. Everyone is working hard from second base to take an advantage. … Teams are very aware of switching signs and everything that is going on, and there’s a lot of cross-up.

“We’ll see how it goes. You call a breaking ball, you throw a fastball at 98 [mph] and the catcher is looking for a breaking ball and he gets hit. We’re talking about safety and keeping guys on the field.”

Until now, the only restriction on mound visits was that a second visit to the same pitcher during an inning by a coach or manager resulted in an automatic pitching change. Under the new rule, each team would get an additional mound visit without a pitching change for each extra inning.