The MLB is investigating Atlanta Braves assistant coach Eddie Pérez after he apparently gestured towards his head while in the midst of a squabble with New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. during the Yankees’ 12–9 victory on Saturday night at Truist Park, according to The Athletic.
The back-and-forth between Pérez and Chisholm occurred in the sixth inning, and seemed to stem from the Yankees second baseman’s actions while he was standing on second base.
Chisholm, in what is legal within the rulebook, appeared to be relaying signs to Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe while dancing off second base.
The Yankees had done something similar during a July 10 game against the Seattle Mariners.
Evidently, Pérez took exception to Chisholm’s apparent sign-stealing.
While standing on third base, Chisholm demonstratively exchanged words with Pérez.
When he arrived back in the Yankees dugout after scoring New York’s sixth run of the game, a still-incensed Chisholm kept pointing at his own head and gesturing back at the Braves dugout.
Yankees announcers Michael Kay and Joe Girardi wondered whether Chisholm felt Pérez was threatening that Atlanta may throw at his head the next time he stepped to the plate.
But the Braves coach denied threatening Chisholm.
“I was just saying, ‘Be smart,’” Pérez told MLB.com. “I like that guy. He’s one of my favorites. And he got mad about it. I don’t know why he got mad about it. So I was like, ‘Take it easy,’ and he started doing some [stuff].”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone, while speaking to reporters after Saturday’s game, made clear that if Pérez was indeed threatening Chisholm, that such a move has no place in baseball.
“I hope it didn’t, because obviously there’s no place for that,” Boone told MLB.com. “And that’s certainly something that would not be O.K. So I hope he didn’t mean anything like that by it, because that would deserve some looking into.”
It appears that MLB is doing its due diligence.
Chisholm, for his part, declined to comment on the incident with Pérez on Saturday and again before the Yankees’ 4–2 win on Sunday.
