Catchers interference

[forphase1]

I've been watching baseball most of my life, but I swear I've seen a ton more catchers interference this year than ever before.  Am I just imagining things?  Or has it really increased?  And if so, any ideas why it's happening more?

[Frobby]

This was raised in a game thread last week, so I looked it up.   

Catchers’ interference has been ticking up the last few years.  Only happens about 50 times a year, so to see it called three times  in about two weeks and questioned another time is very unusual.   
https://www.umpirestats.com/baseball/catchers-interference.cfm

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Two of the times I’ve seen it this season (in the last month-ish), it was on an inside pitch and the batter swung down at it at the last second, like he was chopping. Ended up getting the catchers mitt. I wonder if this is being taught now.

[Frobby]

My guess is that with the emphasis on framing, catchers are sitting a little closer to home plate.  

[DrungoHazewood]

As I'm want to do, I saw this thread and wondered then catcher's interference became a thing.  I'm at work today and don't have Game of Inches handy, but the interwebs provided a Baseball Analysts thread that refers to the David Nemec book The Rules of Baseball:

Quote

According to David Nemec's book "The Rules of Baseball," catcher's interference wasn't put in the rulebook until 1899. Prior to that time, catchers would occasionally try to disrupt a batter's swing by tipping the bat with his glove. Connie Mack claimed that he pioneered this strategy, but that's likely because he lived a long time and nobody was going to argue with him. However, it didn't happen too often because catchers tended to stand well behind (anywhere from 10 to 25 feet) behind the batter because they didn't have much protective equipment and valued keeping their hands, heads, and ... um ... manhood ... intact. Catchers would only move in closer if there were runners on (to prevent stolen bases) or there were two strikes on the batter (catching the third strike cleanly is one of baseball's oldest rules.)

By 1899 when this rule supposedly was enacted catchers no longer regularly stood well behind the plate, at least I don't think they did. The catcher's mask, chest protector, and a rather big mitt were common by the 1890s. And by 1884 overhand pitching was legal and it's kind of hard to imagine a catcher smothering 100+ 80mph one-hop pitches a game without every few going to the backstop like it's 8U ball.  We have WP/PB data from that era and while high it's still less than one a game.  In the late 1890s wild pitches were actually lower than today, although PBs were four times higher (0.05/game instead of about 0.2).  In the early 1870s there were 2-3 (WP+PB) per game, which is still hard to imagine as catchers didn't really have gloves.  I suppose it comes down to very restricted underhand deliveries that may have averaged 50-60 mph.

If Connie Mack claimed to have pioneered the strategy of tipping the bat with the catcher's mitt I would put some weight to that, as he was known as an honest man not prone to lies and exaggeration.  And he was a catcher before becoming a manager, despite being quite tall and skinny.

Edited September 6, 2022 by DrungoHazewood

[CharmCityHokie]

15 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Two of the times I’ve seen it this season (in the last month-ish), it was on an inside pitch and the batter swung down at it at the last second, like he was chopping. Ended up getting the catchers mitt. I wonder if this is being taught now.

I was thinking that as a possibility as well, or something else they are being taught has led to catcher interference as a byproduct; like the launch angle revolution. It seems guys are swinging with deep sweeps through the zone and potentially resulting in more interaction with the catcher's mitt. I have no evidence to back that up, just a thought.

[drjohnnyfeva]

19 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Two of the times I’ve seen it this season (in the last month-ish), it was on an inside pitch and the batter swung down at it at the last second, like he was chopping. Ended up getting the catchers mitt. I wonder if this is being taught now.

Yep... beats the shift too.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

1 hour ago, drjohnnyfeva said:

Yep... beats the shift too.

Isn’t that what bunting is for? 

[oldfan]

Remember when Jacoby Ellsbury used get on like 10 times a year on catcher's interference.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, oldfan said:

Remember when Jacoby Ellsbury used get on like 10 times a year on catcher's interference.

Eh, well, sorta.  His top totals were 12, 5, 4, 3 and 3.  His 31 in a career are two more than Pete Rose, and apparently the record.  Rose never had more than four in a season.

Josh Reddick is also way up on the leaderboards with seven in 2017 and 19 for his career.

Brooks and Cal combined for nearly 24,000 plate appearances with nary a single reached base on catcher's interference.

[forphase1]

Just happened again to Adley while he was catching.  Just crazy how often we are seeing it this year. 

[bpilktree]

It happened in Rays game earlier today as well with Springer up.  

[RZNJ]

Sounds simple but if you let the ball come to you it doesn’t happen.  Maybe it has to do with framing but there’s no need to reach out to catch the ball early other than framing.

[Sports Guy]

 

[DrungoHazewood]

The equivalent of five walks in a month is something like one run, so if this is an intentional strategy to increase framing efficiency the trade offs could very well be worth it.

Or it could just be a random thing, or it could be opposing batters have noticed some minor thing and are trying to subtly wack at Adley's mitt.