By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D.

A former baseball prospect who says he was coerced into receiving the COVID-19 vaccines by the Chicago White Sox in 2021 is suing his former team, alleging the vaccine caused him to develop a career-ending injury.

Isaiah Carranza, a former pitcher for teams in the White Sox’ minor league system, accused the White Sox of discrimination and negligence. He said team officials threatened to blacklist him by keeping him locked into his contract and relegating him to the minor leagues with no opportunity for career advancement if he didn’t get the vaccine.

Those threats compelled him to get the first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in 2021. The vaccine caused “extreme dizziness, nausea, near-fainting, and wildly fluctuating heart rate,” he said.

Carranza was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a chronic nervous system disorder characterized by a rapidly increasing heart rate upon standing. POTS is a commonly reported adverse event linked to COVID-19 vaccines.

The lawsuit, filed in September 2025 and amended in December 2025, names the White Sox and Major League Baseball (MLB) as defendants.

Attorney John M. Liston, co-counsel for Carranza, told The Defender that the vaccine mandate Carranza was subject to was an “employer-imposed mandate” that “applied to minor league players — not those in the major league.”

This distinction created “two different tiers of employees without any valid justification,” Liston said. Major league players are unionized, but minor league players are not. As a result, minor league players enjoy fewer workplace protections.

The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Carranza claims team officials downplayed his injuries and failed to provide sufficient medical care or accommodations required under the ADA. His injuries forced him to end his baseball career prematurely.

According to Liston, Carranza “continues to struggle to perform regular daily activities.”

The Highwire reported that Carranza’s future medical expenses will surpass $557,000 and that his lost wages range between $3.4 million and $19.9 million. The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, legal costs and an injunction forcing the defendants to cease their discriminatory practices under the ADA.

A White Sox team official told The Defender the team cannot comment on active litigation. The MLB did not respond to a request for comment.

White Sox suggested stress, not COVID shots, caused player’s injuries

In a statement last month, the Peter Law Group, one of the legal firms representing Carranza, said the case is “about what happens when powerful institutions impose rigid policies on individuals with little leverage, then refuse to take responsibility when those policies cause real and permanent harm.”

In a statement, attorney Arnold Peter said the lawsuit “addresses the legal and medical consequences of a workplace mandate that left Isaiah Carranza with no meaningful choice.”

These consequences include the onset of POTS. According to the complaint, cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, who examined Carranza, “definitely diagnosed Plaintiff with vaccine-induced POTS, supported by abnormal diagnostic results and persistently elevated spike protein levels.”

“The timeline of symptom onset — beginning within days of vaccination — is strongly indicative of causation,” the complaint states.

The complaint rejects the team’s alternative hypothesis, that Carranza’s condition was the result of psychological stress.

“MLB and the White Sox had several opportunities to prevent or address this issue and repeatedly failed to believe Mr. Carranza or address his concerns,” Liston said.

Will lawsuit face obstacles due to PREP Act’s liability shield?

Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), anyone injured by a COVID-19 vaccine can’t sue the vaccine manufacturer or the person who administered the vaccine.

However, people injured by vaccines can file a claim with the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which was established under the PREP Act.

The Highwire suggested Carranza’s lawsuit could bypass the PREP Act’s liability shield.

“The lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox is an opportunity for a citizen who alleges he was harmed by a pharmaceutical product to obtain compensation outside the PREP Act” The Highwire reported.

Attorney Ray Flores, senior outside counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), who is not connected to this lawsuit, suggested Carranza’s complaint may face obstacles related to the PREP Act.

One of those obstacles is that the PREP Act protects employers who mandated the COVID-19 vaccines.

“Since the complaint doesn’t allege that a CICP application was filed with HRSA [the Health Resources & Services Administration, which administers CICP] and a case alleging willful misconduct wasn’t filed in D.C. District Court, recovery is barred on a variety of levels,” Flores said.

The CICP has been beset with delays and is known for its rejection of most claims filed with the program.

As of Feb. 1, of 14,102 COVID-19-related claims filed with CICP, 6,649 rulings have been made — out of which only 93 claims were found to be eligible for compensation. Only 44 claims were compensated as of that date.

An ongoing lawsuit, filed last year with the support of CHD, alleges that CICP’s high barriers for approval, which leave claimants with no realistic legal remedy for their injuries, violate the Constitution’s due process and equal protection provisions.

An investigation in August 2025 by Flores and The Defender found that over 1.5 million people who reported COVID-19 injuries to the U.S. government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) were shut out from applying for compensation — because their injuries didn’t meet the threshold for being considered “serious.”

Carranza’s lawsuit comes as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policies and recommendations, is set to discuss COVID-19 vaccine injuries at its upcoming meeting, scheduled for March 18-19.

A national survey conducted in November 2025 found that 1 in 10 U.S. adults suffered a “major” side effect following COVID-19 vaccination.

There are over 16,450 peer-reviewed papers on PubMed documenting COVID-19 adverse effects, according to an analysis by Ronald N. Kostoff, Ph.D., a researcher at Georgia Institute of Technology.

The studies revealed “eleven major categories of adverse effects, with cardiovascular, neurological, and autoimmune complications receiving the most research attention,” Kostoff wrote in a TrialSite News op-ed about his analysis.

Last month, a poll commissioned by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and the Brownstone Institute and conducted by Zogby Strategies found that 80.4% of respondents agree that adults should have the right to refuse vaccines, while 70.6% agreed that personal medical/vaccine decisions should never lead to employment denial.

Liston said he hopes this case will help ensure that “everyone has their rights respected and [has] safe access to healthcare.”

Related articles in The Defender

• COVID Vaccine Injuries to Take Center Stage at Upcoming ACIP Meeting
• 1 in 10 Adults Seriously Injured by a COVID Vaccine, New Survey Says
• Over 1.5 Million People Who Reported COVID Vaccine Injuries Shut Out From Applying for Compensation
• Breaking: Government Program for Compensating COVID Vaccine Injuries Is ‘Unconstitutional,’ Lawsuit Alleges
• New Poll: Almost 90% of U.S. Voters Support Right to Refuse Medical Treatment
• Watch: Spike Protein Leads to ‘Five Mechanisms of Damage’ in Human Body

The post He Had His Eye on the Major Leagues — Until a COVID Vaccine Injury Tanked His Career appeared first on Children’s Health Defense.

 

IPAK-EDU is grateful to The Defender as this piece was originally published there and is included in this news feed with mutual agreement. Read More