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Padres pitcher arrested for allegedly breaking down door, pointing gun at woman

Padres pitcher Jose Torres was arrested in December on domestic violence charges and won't be in Padres camp. (Getty Images)
Padres pitcher Jose Torres was arrested in December on domestic violence charges and won’t be in Padres camp. (Getty Images)

San Diego Padres reliever Jose Torres was placed on Major League Baseball’s restricted list this week after a December arrest came to light in which he’s accused of knocking a door off its hinges, punching a hole in another door and pointing a gun at a woman at his home in Phoenix.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Torres was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, criminal damage and intimidation after the December incident, which involved a woman with whom he shares a house. Court records, according to the Union-Tribune, don’t indicate whether the woman is Torres’ wife.

From Kevin Acee at The Union-Tribune:

According to the probable cause statement contained in the court report, Torres knocked a door off its hinges and punched a hole in another door. He also pointed the gun at the victim, according to the report.

His next appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court is a pretrial conference scheduled for Feb. 20. The team declined comment. While letting the case play out in the legal system, the Padres felt it was best for Torres not to be in camp.

Torres, 24, stands 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds. He appeared in 62 games last year for the Padres, the second-highest total in the San Diego bullpen. He finished the season 7-4 with a 4.21 ERA.

This might bring to mind the Aroldis Chapman saga, one of the more high-profile MLB domestic abuse cases. Chapman, according to a police report, fired eight gunshots into his garage after a dispute with his girlfriend in 2015. He was suspended 30 games by MLB even though he wasn’t arrested.

MLB’s domestic violence policy calls for Commissioner Rob Manfred to impose penalties on a case-by-case basis. It also calls for players to be put on the restricted list — like Torres was — while the league investigates matters. MLB’s investigation is independent of any criminal proceedings.

Often times, like with Chapman and Jose Reyes, players face punishment from the league even if the law doesn’t punish them. Reyes’ 52-game ban in 2016 is the second-highest handed down since MLB’s domestic-violence policy change. Hector Olivera got the harshest penalty at 82 games. Jeurys Familia was suspended 15 games last year. Derek Norris, the most recent player suspended under the policy, was a free agent at the time of his penalty but his sentence would have been about 30 games.

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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!