Weeks before Opening Day this season, Major League Baseball sent a memo to all 30 clubs highlighting the enhance in catcher interference. The number of cases of catchers being hit by opposing hitters’ bats was increasing rapidly. In 2023, Catcher interference was called out 94 times, almost 20 times more than in 2022.
What caused this dramatic enhance? Catchers kept getting closer to the plate. In the era of pitching, teams concluded that the closer a catcher was to receiving the pitch, the greater his chance of “stealing” a hit.
This worked well enough to keep catchers moving closer to the batter’s box. The spring memo essentially warned teams to back off and move catchers further behind the plate to minimize risk.
But anyone who saw the St. catcher on Tuesday night. Louis Cardinals running back Willson Contreras suffered a broken left hand, he knows the risk remains ever-present.
Catcher jamming calls continue to grow at a historic rate. The catcher’s average total number of saves from 2010 to 2018 was 31. This year, he was called 33 times – in less than two months.
MLB’s concerns were already growing. There are more than twice as many disruptions in 2024 compared to the 2022 season at the same point in time (15). The league is on track to record a record 148 catcher saves this season. The pressure on the bottom strike framing inadvertently put the catchers’ safety at risk.
“The risk is high,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said earlier this week. “That’s what we experienced.”
Contreras was hit by a swing from Modern York Mets designated hitter J.D. Martinez. The catcher underwent surgery on Wednesday and will be sidelined for at least six to eight weeks. Contreras was one of baseball’s worst performers on borderline pitches below the zone last year. The Cardinals, a defense-minded club, have worked extensively with Contreras to improve in this area.
During his first year in St. Louis Cardinals changed Contreras’ approach, including his positioning behind the plate (Contreras abandoned the classic crouching behind the plate in favor of the one-knee method). They actually moved Contreras closer to the plate.
The Cardinals aren’t the only team in baseball to apply this method, but they are the first to pay the price for it this season.
“The more catchers are evaluated in framing, the closer they get to the hitter to get the low pitch,” Marmol said. “We’re seeing more catchers doing it based on the ability to get a low pitch, but we’re also seeing more catcher interference and backswings drawing players based on being closer. Sometimes a catcher could unconsciously move closer and closer from batter to batter without even noticing.
That seemed to be the case with Contreras, who was caught in the swing of Martinez, who naturally has a deep swing and positions himself as close to the back of the batter’s box as possible. Replays showed that Martinez’s stick head struck Contreras’ left shoulder. It also showed how far Contreras had come in trying to set the field.
Willson Contreras will leave the game after hitting J.D. Martinez in the left shoulder. pic.twitter.com/mJfiqOBf4t
“There’s always a risk being a catcher,” Contreras said after the injury. “It could have been something else. It could have been the knee, it could have been a concussion. This risk will always exist. I don’t blame any part of my game because it happened tonight.
Maybe that’s the problem. No position player in baseball receives more constant beating than the catcher. With teams all over the field eager for a low-ball call, catchers bear the brunt of the consequences.
“We always talked about catcher interference in the form of long strings on the glove or ticking of the glove,” said Detroit Tigers manager AJ Hinch, who caught seven seasons in the substantial leagues. “Then the whole thing turned into a glove. (Contreras) is one of the first ones I’ve seen on limbs.
“It’s risky,” Hinch added. “The closer we get to the plate, the more hits we can catch on the bottom rail. Catchers are being evaluated. They get paid for how well they can control the bottom rail. This led to more and more catcher interventions throughout the game. … We want our guys to be close enough to hit low shots effectively, but not put themselves in harm’s way. It’s a challenging balance when the incentive to do it is real and the risk is extreme.”
Some teams emphasize the low shot more than others. Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson was a catcher in the Tigers organization for four seasons. He was taught that once the bat passed through this zone, the glove should follow it.
“Yyou will be catching more soiled tips,” Thomson said. “You’re closer to the plate, you’re closer to the strike zone. It’s a better presentation for the judge.”
Still, Thomson prefers his catchers to stay some distance from the plate.
“We look at the guys who are doing it and remind the catcher, ‘You’ve got to step back a little bit,’” he said.
Self-control seems to be the joyful medium for some teams. For example, the Minnesota Twins monitor their catcher at every pitch. This is one of the main in-game responsibilities of first base and catching coach Hank Conger.
“Generally speaking, a good, tight setup is better than a worse, whatever you prefer. But obviously it’s about avoiding not only the catchers getting in the way, but also getting injured,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I think there are some reasons why (being closer) is helpful, but there are other times where we’re shouting at them for support, to be helpful too, you know?”
The Atlanta Braves have two coaches assigned to catching. Sal Fasano is the catching coach. He is assisted by Eddie Pérez, who spent nine of his 11 major league seasons playing for the Braves. Pérez certainly understands the strategy behind staying close to the plate, but he believes the responsibility for telling the catcher he’s too close rests with those watching from the dugout.
“It’s always good to be closer to the hitter,” Pérez said. “It is believed that if you are closer to the batter, you will get more calls.”
“Sal always reminds them to come back, you don’t want them to get hurt,” Pérez added. “You can see better from (the dugout). When you’re catching, you don’t know how far you are from the batter, and every batter has a different setup, so you have to adapt. … As a catcher, they have to tell you from the sidelines how close you are to the batter.
But random hits behind the plate can sometimes be a two-way street. Catchers are often accosted by batters’ swings, regardless of where they are. With an average bat speed of about 75 miles per hour, some argue that the responsibility rests with the hitter to not only keep his physical body within the parameters of the batter’s box, but also his swing.
“I don’t necessarily agree that people can swing as well,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “Yes, it could be the way the catchers line up. But it could also be the way some people swing. And that is unsafe.”
With the league fully aware and the MLB fully aware of the risks, what can be done to reduce catcher interference and the inherent risk of injury? Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas suggested a physical line behind the plate that catchers could not cross, which in a sense constituted their own box. Could an automated ball striking system (which theoretically eliminates framing value) be the answer? Maybe, but it’s an imperfect system in the minor leagues and a far cry from a substantial league product.
““I don’t know what they could do other than reward the batter with more bases and put him on second base,” Hinch said. “There are probably things you could do that would make a huge impact on the game, but I don’t know if anything could have a bigger impact than losing one of your best players for six to eight weeks, 10 weeks, whatever it is. “
The Cardinals now know how grave this impact can be. A bigger question arises: or baseball?
— AthleteMatt Gelb, Cody Stavenhagen, Aaron Gleeman, Patrick Mooney, David O’Brien and Eno Sarris contributed to this story.
(Photo of Contreras being helped off the field by Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)
