Yankees sign-stealing sparks heated Braves-Jazz Chisholm Jr. on-field feud

The New York Yankees completed a ridiculous comeback against the reeling Atlanta Braves on Saturday night, overcoming deficits of 5-0 and 7-2 to secure a 12-9 win spearheaded by a pair of Anthony Volpe homers and a game-winning Trent Grisham grand slam in the top of the ninth. However, it was a scene in the top of the sixth between Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Braves assistant coach Eddie Perez that caught everyone's attention, mostly because it was so heated. And it may have started with stealing signs.

In the top of the sixth inning, Chisholm arrived at third base and was jawing pretty intensely at the Braves dugout. When the cameras cut over, it showed Perez being the target and talking back to Chisholm. In doing so, he was pointing at his head, which only appeared to make Chisholm and some other members of the Yankees angrier.

During this, Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay and Joe Girardi speculated that Perez was warning Chisholm that the Braves were going to throw at his head, which is what the pointing gesture was meant to indicate. That, of course, would've explained why Chisholm was so angry.

However, further investigation makes the contentious scene even more confusing, though it's become clear that Chisholm and the Yankees stealing signs is where it all started.

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Jazz Chisholm Jr. stealing signs (legally) sparks on-field yelling match with Braves coach

The confrontation between the Yankees and Braves centered around Chisholm and Perez came after Chisholm was on second base and was seen sticking out his arms while Volpe was in the batter's box. This was the same signal that New York was using in a comeback against the Seattle Mariners recently when closer Andres Munoz also appeared to be tipping pitches, which the Yankees caught onto.

Chris Kirschner's point is key. Stealing signs with a camera and then banging on a trash can is definitively illegal — a pitcher or catcher not hiding signs or pitches well enough to tip them so the opposing team can catch on and then using that information to their advantage, that's completely legal! Chisholm isn't doing anything wrong.

Sure, the Braves definitely don't like that it's happening, but if that's the case, then go out and talk to your pitcher. Don't yell at Chisholm because he caught something to give the Yankees a completely fair advantage at the plate. If Pereze was truly telling Chisholm that the Braves were going to hit him in the head, then that's completely unwarranted and, frankly, the assistant for Atlanta is the one who was over the line and most in the wrong here.

Unfortunately, the Braves probably don't have a leg to stand on here

For Perez's part, though, he denied that's what he was indicating to Chisholm and the Yankees from the Braves dugout. Before telling the media that he "likes the kid" in regard to New York's second baseman, he also said that he was pointing to his head to tell Chisholm to "think".

Given how heated things got in the jawing, though, I have a hard time buying that — especially because I'm not sure what Perez is telling Chisholm to think about. Think about legally stealing signs? Okay, thought about it and still going to do it because it's helping my team. What are we talking about here?

The Braves don't come out of this looking good, without question, Perez in particular. This seems like sour grapes that boiled over and that something other than "think" was being indicated to Chisholm. And if he was saying "think", then that frankly doesn't make sense either. This seems like a team frustrated that the bullpen was blowing a comfortable lead and that led to a complete overreaction to a problem of the bullpen and coaches' own creation.

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