Don’t tell Asdrubal Cabrera it’s just Winter League baseball.
The former Met, who now plays for Caribes de Anzoategui in the Venezuelan Winter League, took exception to Carlos Castro’s over-the-top home run celebration, which set off a brawl in a game Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Castro, who plays for of Tiburones de La Guaira, slow-trotted toward first base as he watched the homer he hit off left-hander Jose Torres sail over the fence. Castro then flipped his bat before staring into Caribes’ dugout. Torres, clearly upset with the antics, starting jawing at Castro as he headed to first, but it got much worse after that.
An angry Cabrera ran over to Torres as he rounded first base and clotheslined Castros in the face with his left arm, knocking him to the ground and setting off the wild brawl.
The 37-year-old Cabrera — who played for seven different teams during his major league career that spanned from 2007-2021, including 2016-18 with the Mets — wasn’t above styling after hitting a big home run during his MLB career.
On Sept. 22, 2016, Cabrera, a switch hitter, belted a three-run homer over the right-field wall to give the Mets a big 9-8 win over the Phillies. After hitting the blast, he slowly left the box and gave a big bat flip while looking toward his dugout — though not the opposing team’s dugout as Castro did.
