MLB executives believe there will be talks in the offseason about banning collisions at home plate, reports Buster Olney of ESPN.
MLB to discuss banning home plate collisions, according to report
After Tigers’ catcher Alex Avila suffered a strained tendon in the ALDS due to a play at the plate, there have been more calls to ban collisions.
Collisions at the plate have been a hot topic in baseball as they become more and more dangerous. The latest incident came in Game 5 of the ALDS when the Red Sox' David Ross plowed into Tigers' catcher Alex Avila in a close play at the plate. Ross was out, but Avila had to exit the game with a strained knee tendon and is listed day-to-day coming into Saturday's Game 6.
Avila isn't the only catcher injured in a postseason game this year due to a play at the plate. Down in the minors, Nationals' farmhand Brian Jeroloman needed a hospital visit after a particularly vicious hit in the Double-A playoffs.
There has also been a rash of injuries in recent years as catchers get injured in these collisions. Both players involved in the ALCS play, Ross (who is also a catcher) and Avila, have suffered concussions in 2013 on similar plays. As the cost of concussions becomes more clear, major sports leagues are looking to do what they can to prevent such injuries.
Concussions are not the only type of injury a catcher faces, as Giants' backstop Buster Posey found out. He missed most of the 2011 season after surgery to repair torn tendons in his ankle and a broken leg bone when he was leveled by Scott Cousins in an early-season game.
Another collision in 2012 involving the Cardinals' Yadier Molina brought up similar cries to ban such plays at the plate. Fortunately for the Cardinals, Molina was lucky and escaped with multiple strains that did not cause him to miss much time.
Referring to the rule allowing such collisions to take place, one executive Olney spoke to said, “I don’t know who could argue to keep it.”
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