Minor league teams involved in wild brawl after purpose pitch

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

Wild brawls aren't exclusive to Major League Baseball. In fact, some of the craziest we've seen over the years have actually taken place at the minor league level.

That's where we turn right now, as this California League disagreement between the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Dodgers) and High Desert Mavericks (Rangers), went from dust up to fist-a-cuffs in under 30 seconds.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the fight unfolded when Quakes reliever Luis De Paula hit Travis Demeritte with the first pitch of the sixth inning. A half-inning earlier, the Mavericks had also hit a batter, so this was taken as retaliation.

Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that Demeritte leads the California League with 19 homers. That makes him an important player and prospect. He'd also hit a home run one inning earlier, so there were a lot of bad memories fresh in some player's minds and perhaps some bad intentions in other's minds.

Whatever the case, it all boiled over.

Here's more from the L.A. Times:

There was some pushing and shoving initially, then the situation escalated when Quakes catcher Julian Leon appeared to start throwing punches in the midst of a crowd of Mavericks players. Leon was swarmed before being pulled away by teammates, but an unidentified Quakes bullpen catcher filled in for his position-mate with several power punch attempts.

Video of the event shows multiple players throwing punches, but the umpires ejected only De Paula and Mavericks third baseman Juremi Profar.

In case you're wondering, Juremi Profar is the younger brother of current Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar, who earlier this season earned back a spot in the majors while filling in for a suspended Rougned Odor. We all know that story pretty well.

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Also, that does correctly state that the bullpen catcher was actively involved and throwing punches.

The good news it appears there were no notable injuries. Just a few hurt feelings, bruises that will require some ice and eventually lighter wallets.

Boys will be boys.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!