Will Smith sends clear message to Braves after benches-clearing incident

It’s not often that a routine flyout leads to a confrontation and a subsequent dust-up, but nothing that happens in Major League Baseball is ever that ordinary.

In the bottom of the fourth of Monday night’s Braves-Dodgers game, Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna led off the inning with a routine inning to left field. Harmless enough, right? Well, in this instance, you’d be wrong, as his backswing caught the helmet of Los Angeles catcher, Will Smith.

Smith was none too pleased with what took place and Ozuna seemed confused by his reaction. Smith confronted Ozuna, who threw his hands up as if to apologize and say that he didn’t do it on purpose. Smith seemed to indicate that he didn’t think it was intentional, but it was also not the first time.

Marcell Ozuna flies out and hits Dodgers catcher Will Smith on the backswing. Smith confronts him, leading to a tense scene in Atlanta.

Something to circle for the rest of the game and series. pic.twitter.com/k853lnjwZR

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) May 23, 2023

That’s also pretty much what he alluded to in his post-game comments.

“I was just mad,” Smith said postgame, via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. “He hit me in the head with his bat pretty hard. It’s not the first time he’s done it to me. He’s done it to other catchers around the league. I just felt like there comes a point where I need to say something there. In the moment, it kind of got a little heated. It’s something he’d not doing on purpose. But you do it enough times you’d think he’d fix it.”

It’s worth mentioning that Smith also recently dealt with a concussion.

Whatever the case may be, hopefully, this is something Ozuna gets fixed, otherwise the Braves and Dodgers might have another issue.

[Fabian Ardaya on Twitter; photo from Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports]