Former Royals slugger leads charge in chaotic Angels-Braves brawl

While the Kansas City Royals Tuesday afternoon affair with the Cleveland Guardians lacked fireworks, or just general excitement at that, there were other games that certainly caught the eye of the baseball world.

And arguably no game was as exciting on Tuesday than the Braves and Angels matchup. Not only was nine combined runs three times the amount scored in the Royals game, but it was the “extracurriculars” that grasped the widespread attention.

There’s no spectacle in baseball quite like an all-out benches clearing brawl. Whether it was Nolan Ryan’s headlock of Robin Ventura back in the day, Pedro Martinez throwing Don Zimmer to the ground back in 2003 or the more recent Amir Garrett-led brawl between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, the relaxing game of baseball has had no shortage of heart-racing confrontations.

And on Tuesday, it was former Royals slugger Jorge Soler who was at the forefront of the latest installment of the MLB fight club.

After receiving a pitch high and inside, which was one of multiple according to the FanDuel Sports Network West broadcast, Soler charged the mound between pitch attempts following a Nolan Schanuel steal of second.

With the pitch not being overly threatening, the brawl came as a shock, but obviously Soler was not to impressed with Braves starter and former teammate (with the Braves of all teams) Reynaldo López, judging by the haymakers that he was throwing.

“I asked him if everything was OK and the answer he gave me, I didn’t like it,” Soler said according to Rhett Bollinger and Courtney Hollmon of MLB.com. “That’s why I went out there.”

Jorge Soler was a different type of slugger when he was with the Royals

While it may’ve been a literal slug-fest on Tuesday night, Jorge Soler was best known for his slugging ability with the bat while with the Royals.

In 395 games in parts of five seasons with the Royals, before being dealt to the Braves ironically enough in 2021, Soler hit 80 of his 205 career homers and drove in 560 RBI while hitting .236 with an .800 OPS.

Soler is also known for the piece of impressive history he holds with the franchise. Before his 48 homers in 2019, no Kansas City Royals hitter had ever eclipsed the 40 home run plateau, with Mike Moustakas with 38 in 2017 and Steve Balboni with 36 in 1985 being the closest efforts. Only Salvador Perez has been able to achieve such a feat since then, as his 48 homers in 2021 tied Soler’s tally.

And he wasn’t just a slugger with the Royals, apart from a poor pair of partial seasons in 2017 and 2021 before heading to Atlanta, Soler was a consistently above-average bat, most notably during his 48-homer season in 2019 when he sported a corresponding 136 wRC+.