Left-hander Yohander Mendez has a reputation for being one of the top pitchers in the Texas Rangers minor-league system. Good for him, because he's not going far in the world of professional cage fighting, were he to choose such a road.Mendez tried showing off his pugilism skills Sunday while pitching for Double-A Frisco, which engaged in a brawl with Corpus Christi, a Houston Astros affiliate. Mendez threw a pitch that hit Danry Vazquez in the tush, then threw his glove at Vazquez after he charged the mound. Neither blow appeared to do much damage in the bench-clearing affair:Who throws a glove in a fight? A batting helmet, sure, because it's got some weight to it. Maybe it bruises the other guy, if you're lucky. But a thrown glove? That won't do. If you could whip the other person with the glove, perhaps the part with tassels, you might cause a minor skin irritation. But who is going to stand there and let you whip them?As baseball brawls go, it wasn't bad, though things appeared to calm down until Frisco manager Joe Mikulik emerged from a scrum really upset at someone. Mikulik, you might know, is famous for getting into entertaining arguments with umpires. He's good at getting the red ass, no matter the circumstances.Note that, later in in the video, uniformed police are called onto the field. That always adds some figurative weight to the situation — as if one of the players is going to get cuffed and arrested on the field. No way it happens! But it is kind of fun to have the cops called on your brawl. Imagine them writing out the report: Does it become aggravated assault, if the police so choose, when a player throws a glove or a helmet? Is that the point of no return?Here's to this highlight following Mendez around. "Spirited," the scouting report will say. "But doesn't always think things through."
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