Whether it's major league or minor league baseball, it's a competitive sport. And sometimes, as we've seen over the years, that manifests with fights breaking out — such as what we saw Thursday night between the Columbus Clippers and Nashville Sounds.
The Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate for the Cleveland Guardians, were up 2-0 in the top of the third inning against the Sounds, the Triple-A affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers. Clippers outfielder George Valera had a 1-2 count at the plate when things went south.
It appears he and Sounds catcher Alex Jackson exchanged words before Valera asked for time. He and Jackson then proceeded to get into each other's faces before the home plate umpire stepped in between them.
As the umpire got in between them, Valera poked the catcher's face mask, which only escalated the situation further.
George Valera throwing hands in the minors?
Bring up my king. Love to see fight out of these guys ??? pic.twitter.com/w7NE4W9sRN
— C0RY (@c0ry024) July 7, 2023
This then prompted the benches to clear. And as you can see in the video above, Valera began doing his best boxing impression after teammate Jhonkensy Noel tried to get Valera away from the situation. Prior to that, you can see him shove the home plate umpire away as well.
This incident resulted in Valera and Jackson getting ejected from the game.
WE GOT BEEF!!!!! At the Nashville Sounds game after the batter PUNCHED THE UMP!!!!! #NashvilleSounds #WeGotBeef pic.twitter.com/ogRBnYD8Rv
— DannyBTalks (Daniel Baldwin) (@DannyBTalks) July 7, 2023
Valera is considered the No. 2 prospect in the Guardians' farm system. He started the year on the injured list after irritating his surgically repaired right hand.
He's been with the Clippers for 26 games now. He's batting .211, with a home run, 11 RBIs, 19 walks and 26 strikeouts across 95 at-bats.
