The Texas Rangers are looking into an incident in which catcher Yorvit Torrealba hit an umpire in the face during a winter league game in Venezuela, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. 
 
 "(We're) aware, but we haven't got much info yet," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told the newspaper. “We will look into it.” 
 
 The Texas Rangers are investigating an incident in which Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba struck an umpire in the face during a winter league game in Venezuela. (AP Photo) 
 
 The incident, captured in a video that went viral Friday on the Internet, shows Torrealba, playing for Leones del Caracas in his native country, striking out swinging and then throwing his hand up toward the umpire. The umpire immediately ejects Torrealba, leading to a face-to-face confrontation. After a few seconds, Torrealba is seen—with an open hand—pushing the umpire’s facemask. 
 
 Asked by the Star-Telegram if Major League Baseball or the Rangers might take disciplinary action for an incident in a non-MLB game, Daniels said: “Depends on circumstances.” 
 
 Torrealba is entering the second year of a two-year, $6.25 million contract with the Rangers signed last offseason. He batted .273 with seven home runs and 37 RBIs in 113 regular-season games. The Star-Telegram noted that his playing time diminished in the postseason when a red-hot Mike Napoli became the team’s No. 1 catcher. ||||| Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba has always played the game of baseball with a lot of fire and a lot passion. Unfortunately, the 11 year big league veteran took that fire and passion too far while playing for Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan League on Friday. 
 
 After Torrealba took an ugly cut at a breaking ball and missed for strike three, he immediately began a heated discussion with home plate umpire Dario Rivero, Jr over a disputed strike call earlier in the at-bat. The two men jawed face-to-face for a good fifteen seconds before Torrealba struck the umpire in the face mask with the palm of his hand and pushed him away. 
 
 Here's video of the incident from the Venezuelan League broadcast on Friday afternoon. The punch will come 35 seconds in. 
 
 Needless to say this is an inexcusable and disgusting display by a guy I've always respected for his passion, but even more so for his high character and leadership on and off field. To see this happen with any professional baseball player would be startling, but for it to be Yorvit Torrealba is absolutely stunning. 
 
 There's no doubt baseball can get the best of even the very best on any given day, but whatever explanation and apology Torrealba comes up will simply not be good enough. It's a very sad and very disappointing situation. There's no other way for me to put it. 
 
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 • Five secrets to successful gift returning ||||| Venezuela's government said Thursday it has sent its top investigators to solve the kidnapping of Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, a case that has shaken the nation's elite athletes and focused attention on the country's sharp rise in kidnappings for ransom. 
 
 David Ramos, brother of Washington Nationals' catcher Wilson Ramos, left, opens the gate of his family's home for an unidentified woman in the municipality of Santa Ines in Valencia, Venezuela, Thursday... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Aug. 17, 2011, file photo, Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos looks up from the dugout at the end of the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds at Nationals... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this June 4, 2011, file photo, Washington Nationals' Wilson Ramos looks on during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. According to Kathe Vilera, a spokeswoman for Ramos'... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This 2011 file photo shows player Wilson Ramos of the Washington Nationals baseball team. According to Kathe Vilera, a spokeswoman for Ramos' Venezuelan League team, the Aragua Tigers, four armed... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - This July 6, 2011 file photo shows Washington Nationals' Wilson Ramos hitting a sacrifice bunt to drive in teammate Michael Morse for the go-ahead run in the seventh inning against the Chicago... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police found the kidnappers' vehicle abandoned in a nearby town Thursday morning, said Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami, who called it "a very important find." 
 
 He said anti-kidnapping units led by "the best investigators we have" were dispatched to the area in central Carabobo state and he vowed to rescue Ramos and capture his abductors. 
 
 "We're taking on this investigation with everything we've got," El Aissami said. 
 
 The 24-year-old player, who had just finished his rookie season, was just outside the front door at his home in the town of Santa Ines on Wednesday night when an SUV approached, armed men got out "and they took him away," said Ramos' agent, Gustavo Marcano. 
 
 "The abductors haven't made contact with the family or with anyone," said Domingo Alvarez, vice president of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, in a telephone interview. "We're worried." 
 
 Major League Baseball and the Nationals issued a joint statement that the league's Department of Investigations was working with authorities. 
 
 "Our foremost concern is with Wilson Ramos and his family and our thoughts are with them at this time," the statement said, adding there would be no further comment. 
 
 Ramos is a key young player for the Nationals. As a rookie in 2011, he hit .267 with 15 home runs and 52 RBIs in 113 games. He also threw out 19 of 67 runners attempting to steal a base, a 28 percent success rate that ranked third among qualifying catchers in the National League. 
 
 Washington acquired Ramos from the Minnesota Twins in a trade for All-Star relief pitcher Matt Capps in July 2010. 
 
 He is one of dozens of Venezuelans in the major leagues, and some of their families already have been targeted in a rising wave of kidnappings affecting the wealthy. 
 
 Venezuelan police said that 618 kidnappings were reported in 2009, and the numbers have grown rapidly in recent years. In 1998, when President Hugo Chavez was elected, just 52 kidnappings were reported. Security experts say the real number of kidnappings today is much higher because many cases aren't reported to authorities. 
 
 The wealthy have taken steps to protect themselves; sales of armored cars have soared in the past several years. Bodyguards typically shadow major leaguers when they return to their homeland to play in the winter league. 
 
 "Every major league player has his own security, but we don't know if he had his security there at that time," Alvarez said. He said it's the first time a major league player has been abducted in the country, though other players' relatives have been held for ransom in the past. 
 
 Former Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Armas, who lives in Venezuela, said young players have been taking additional security measures due to the risk of kidnappings. 
 
 "But many of them are careless sometimes. No one seriously thinks that this can happen to us, and much less in a country like ours where people love baseball," Armas said in a telephone interview. 
 
 "Most of us came from humble families. We still have relatives who live in poor areas, we frequent those places and unfortunately the criminals are getting more soulless all the time," he said. 
 
 In November 2009, the 56-year-old mother of Victor Zambrano, who retired after a seven-year Major League career, was rescued in a commando-style operation three days after she was kidnapped. The former pitcher's cousin, Richard Mendez Zambrano, had been kidnapped a few days earlier, and was later killed. 
 
 In June 2009, Colorado Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba's 11-year-old son and brother-in-law were kidnapped and released a day later. 
 
 The mother of former player Ugueth Urbina, who was a two-time All-Star pitcher, spent more than five months in captivity until she was rescued in early 2005. 
 
 Venezuela has one of Latin America's highest murder rates, and violent crime has worsened in recent years. As ransom kidnapping has soared, the government passed a revised law in 2009 that stiffened prison sentences for kidnapping and also allows authorities to freeze the banks accounts of victims' families to prevent them from paying ransom. 
 
 Ramos had been training and planned to start playing with his Venezuelan team next week. Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Melvin Mora, also a Venezuelan, proposed that the Venezuelan league ought to call off its games "until he appears." 
 
 But league president Jose Grasso said that won't happen. "Turning out the stadium lights isn't a solution," Grasso said, calling Ramos' abduction "an isolated event." 
 
 ____ 
 
 AP Sports Writers Howard Fendrich in Washington and Ron Blum in New York contributed to this report. 
 
 (This version CORRECTS that Tigers are already playing, next week's game not season opener.)
– For any non-baseball fans out there, this is a huge no-no. Texas Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba was playing in the Venezuelan League on Friday when he struck out badly and began yelling at the home plate umpire—probably over a strike call earlier in the at-bat. The two of them jaw for a good 15 seconds before Torrealba smacks the ump flat in the face mask, the Sporting News reports. The blow even sends the umpire stumbling backward. The Rangers say they're looking into it. "(We're) aware, but we haven't got much info yet," Rangers manager Jon Daniels says. Possible disciplinary measures will depend "on circumstances.” Maybe Torrealba is mad because he's in the second year of a $6.25-million contract, and has seen his playing time wane with the rise of red-hot Mike Napoli. One baseball writer can barely disguise his contempt on Yahoo: "Whatever explanation and apology Torrealba comes up will simply not be good enough."