Receiver interference: the year in pictures. | Baseball prospectus

Translated by Pepe Latorre

There are seven different ways you can get a batter to first base safely. The least common is receiver interference. This year it happened only 86 times. We’re talking a total of 182,925 plate appearances, so catcher interference accounts for 0.047%. It’s so rare that baseball players don’t always know how to react. Here is a graphic summary of those responses.

We’re all looking for the man who did this

Carlos Narváez is the catcher here. Ben Rice j Will Klein They need to make sure you know, so they point it out to you. Narvaez and Luke Giolito They pretend to look at the clouds to show you how innocent they are. They’re clearly not following a catch, or at least not the same catch, because the catcher is looking to right field and the pitcher is looking over third base.

In fact, this was the second time this season that Rice made contact with Narváez’s glove. Both came from the Yankees organization and Narváez was generally a level ahead of Rice. It was also Narváez’s sixth interference of the year, and no one else in the MLB committed more than four.

Patrick Bailey He’s the best defender in baseball at any position, but even he made a defensive mistake. This was one of seven mistakes he made last season. Kerry Carpenter points to Tony Randazzowho appears to be doing the dance YMCA.

Same catcher, same hitter, same play, different at bats! Luis Robert Jr. contacted Blake Sabol in the third and eighth innings on April 11. At referee school they don’t teach receiver jamming, but Quinn Wolcott shows consistent technique: arm straight, wrist down, index finger pointing at the receiver’s butt. It would be just as effective to blame someone for a fart. Maybe Sabol did it too.

Run

To start, you have to appreciate the color-coordinated design of these Brewers and Pirates uniforms. Bravo! Henry Davis He’s a good catcher, so maybe he’s trying to save his position partner from embarrassment. William Contrerasin haste. Freddy Peralta Maybe he’s tying his shoelaces.

The Rockies cannot be missing from an article like this. Instead of a double murder, Hunter Goodman was called for the penalty, putting runners on first and second with no outs. The Padres scored five more runs in the next inning and the Rockies lost the game 8-0.

If?

It’s not often you see the pitcher, hitter and umpire where they need to be, while the catcher isn’t. The only one who seemed to know what was happening was Ben Rice, who was behind the plate half a second earlier. Carlos Narváez owes a beer to it Sam Haggerty the next time I see him.

Here we have a series of wonderfully baffling responses. Braxton Fulford seems to do the dance This dead man is very much alive. Shohei Ohtani He staggers back as if he has seen a ghost. Anthony Molina He decided it was the right time and place to move.

Speaking of beer guilt, Fulford committed two fouls last year, both with Ohtani batting and Molina on the mound. Who knows what the NL MVP would have done in those at-bats, but considering he had a 1.014 OPS and Molina had a 7.27 ERA, Fulford probably saved his pitcher even more embarrassment.

¡Ouch!

Only in baseball can you break someone’s bones with a blunt weapon and avoid being attacked. Austin Wells broke his hand Drew Miles and the poor man couldn’t put on the glove for the rest of the season. To make matters worse, everyone abandons him in times of need. Even Cavalli falls seems to want to play along with Wells and Erik Bacchus.

This was another season-ending injury. I wish there was a way to prevent dangerous situations like this! Marcell Ozuna He wants everyone to know that Gary Sánchez’s glove is on the board. It is important to him that they are aware of this, even if they are Daan Kremer He refuses to acknowledge it.

Too old for this

Martín Maldonado’s face says it all. It’s the right response for a 38-year-old catcher accused of interference. even though the ball was in his glove for Jorbit is alive it will connect.

This is the face of a manager who just won a challenge for interference. In case you’re wondering what almost 40 years of baseball does to you: Torey Lovullo It used to look like this:

Who knows how much interference the bags under those eyes must have seen?