Report: MLB looks into allegations of domestic abuse made against Addison Russell

A friend of Russell's wife has alleged on social media that he hit her. Russell has denied the allegation

Major League Baseball is "looking into" allegations of domestic violence made against Cubs shortstop Addison Russell, reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

The allegations came to light via Instagram, via some posts that have since been deleted. Being the Internet, though, they live forever thanks to the many people who took screen-grabs of them. 

First, there was Russell's wife, Melisa, who posted a picture of herself laughing at a beach and captioned it, "Being free to be able to make your own choices for your own happiness beats being cheated on, lied to, & disrespected any day." (Twitter screen-grab here)

The implications there are pretty clear, though this isn't anything MLB would investigate. 

However, an apparent friend of Melisa's replied to someone who accused her of being "hateful" in the comments with: "hateful is cheating on your wife, mentally & physically abusing her. Melisa didn't want that out but I'll say it. He hit her. In front of Aiden & Mila." 

There's more there, too (here's another screengrab from Twitter). Aiden and Mila are the children of Addison and Melisa Russell. 

Russell released the following statement: 

"Any allegation I have abused my wife is false and hurtful. For the well-being of my family, I'll have no further comment."

Russell, 23, wasn't in the Cubs' lineup on Wednesday and won't be Thursday, either. Here's the Cubs' statement:

"Last night, we were made aware of a serious claim posted on social media about Addison Russell. We reached out to Major League Baseball and, following the protocol established by MLB, will fully cooperate with the Commissioner's Office as it gathers pertinent facts. Addison will not be in uniform tonight to allow him to work through this matter."

He's been going through a very rough year on the field, hitting just .209/.291/.335. He's been playing through injuries and, apparently, has been going through these off-field issues as well. 

Under it's relatively new domestic violence policy, MLB has suspended Aroldis Chapman, Jose Reyes, Hector Olivera and Jeurys Familia, however, Russell's case -- along with that of Derek Norris -- comes without a police report. As such, these two cases appear without precedent as to how MLB will proceed.