Highly-touted Chicago Cubs prospect Jorge Soler was ejected from a Florida State League game on Tuesday night after he charged the opposing dugout with a bat. You read that correcty: he charged the other team's dugout while brandishing a bat.
I'll let the report from Jonathan Raymond of MiLB.com explain the exact details.
According to Daytona's broadcast team, Clearwater second baseman Carlos Alonso came down on Soler after the 21-year-old right fielder slid into second base trying to break up a double play.
Soler and Alonso apparently exchanged words before being separated and returning to their respective dugouts. Soler then re-emerged from the Cubs dugout with a bat, made his way toward the visitors' dugout and again traded words with members of the Threshers.
Soler was restrained by a teammate and at least one member of the Daytona coaching staff before he was ejected by plate umpire Sean Ryan. Contrary to reports circulating on social media, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound native of Cuba did not swing the bat at anyone.
There are a lot of people who will immediately jump to conclusions regarding this, Yes, it's not a good look for Soler by any means, and he'll likely get a nice, long suspension out of the deal (with Delmon Young's 50 games for throwing his bat at an umpire coming up most often).
But really, we don't know the whole story yet. Maybe Alonso said something derogatory to Soler during their incident at second base. Who knows? I don't think this is going to do a lot to affect Soler's standing in Chicago's organization, as he's still hitting .435/.519/.739 with four walks and four strikeouts in six games this year. It's going to brand a scarlet letter onto him though, and perception of him going forward by the casual fan will likely take a hit.
[MiLB.com]
