Mets Fire Coach Ryan Ellis Three Years After Three Women's Accounts of Sexual Harassment

Three women described sexual harassment by Mets coach Ryan Ellis in 2018, but he was not fired by the organization until 2021.

Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports

In the wake of the Mets' firing of general manager Jared Porter last month, the club also quietly dismissed hitting performance coordinator Ryan Ellis after three women had previously described sexual harassment by him, according to The Athletic.

The three women, who worked for or had previously been employed by the Mets, spoke with Aubrey Wechsler, then the club's employee relations manager, in 2018 to report Ellis's behavior.

One employee told Weschler that Ellis said to her, "I stare at your a-- all the time. If only I could have 15 minutes alone with you." 

The woman told The Athletic that she shared those comments with Wechsler from a journal she kept at the time.

A second woman said she told Wechsler about her "brief sexual relationship" with Ellis in 2017, which she ended. After the breakup, she continued to receive "persistent, unwanted text messages" from Ellis for months and told Wechsler about the messages.

According to The Athletic, a third woman, who was the first to report Ellis's behavior, said she told her supervisor that Ellis made sexual comments to her and other low-level woman employees. She later shared that information with Wechsler, who still works for the Mets.

Ellis remained with the team until he was fired this winter following Porter's dismissal in January. The club parted ways with Porter after he admitted to sending lewd text messages to a woman reporter when he worked with the Cubs.

"On January 19 of this year, following the termination of Jared Porter, we received new information regarding conduct of the disciplined employee in the 2017–2018 timeframe," the Mets said in a statement to The Athletic. 

"We immediately commenced a new investigation and terminated the employee on January 22 for violating company policy and failure to meet the Mets' standards for professionalism and personal conduct."

The team did not provide what "new information" it received in January. 

Ellis started working for the Mets organization in 2006 in the minor leagues. He joined the major league staff in 2020 after hitting coach Chili Davis opted out of the season.

New York first investigated Ellis in 2018 around the same time it was looking into a previous allegation against Mickey Callaway, then the club's manager. The Athletic recently reported that Callaway sent inappropriate photographs and unsolicited messages to at least five women in sports media over a five-year span.

Following the report, Callaway was suspended by the Angels, for whom he currently works. The Angels and MLB are investigating Callaway's conduct.

The first woman who reported Ellis's treatment toward herself and other lower-level employees said Wechsler asked for "proof" of wrongdoing and added that her case would be stronger if more women came forward, according to The Athletic. She contacted the two other women she knew who had previous issues with Ellis.

The first woman said Wechsler called her about two weeks later and told her the investigation into Ellis was complete.

"In July 2018, a complaint regarding inappropriate conduct by a Mets employee was brought to the attention of Mets management at that time,” the team told The Athletic. "The organization initiated an investigation and, as a result, the employee was disciplined, put into a probationary status, and ordered into counseling. We had not received previous or subsequent complaints about this employee."

The second woman said she did not hear from the club until January, when it received the "new information."

"They were asking about the relationship part. They weren't really interested in the harassment. It was about they caught him in a lie," she told The Athletic.