LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL — While player trades and free agent signings are usually the focus at the Winter Meetings, Wednesday afternoon brought news of a major change in Major League Baseball for 2014. No, it’s not instant replay (they’re still working out the details on that, per MLB EVP Joe Torre). With an announcement sure to send shockwaves through the baseball world, New York Mets General Manager and MLB Rules Committee chairman Sandy Alderson declared that the committee had voted to “eliminate collisions at home plate by governing both catchers and runners in that situation.”
The decision came following a meeting on Wednesday morning with representatives from the clubs — all 30 clubs were invited — to discuss potential changes and safety issues regarding home plate collisions. Former catchers — and now managers — Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants and Mike Matheny of the St. Louis Cardinals who led the movement to implement change to make the game safer for both the runners and the catchers, spoke at the meeting to present their thoughts on the issue.
Bochy has been an outspoken advocate for change as a result of not only the now infamous collision at home plate that took out his MVP catcher Buster Posey in May, 2011 but also a home plate collision between the Dodgers’ Brian Jordan and Padres’ catcher Gary Bennett in 2003 which kept Bennett out of action for months.
Alderson provided some additional information into the implementation of the new rule to eliminate home plate collisions, which could be in effect in 2014 if the MLBPA agrees to the rule once it’s finalized.
“The exact language and how exactly the rule will be enforced is subject to final determination,” Alderson said. “We're going to do fairly extensive review of the types of plays that occur at home plate to determine which we're going to find acceptable and which are going to be prohibited.
“But this is, I think, in response to a few issues that have arisen. One is just the general occurrence of injuries from these incidents at home plate that affect players, both runners and catchers. And also the general concern about concussions that exists not only in baseball but throughout professional sports and amateur sports today. It's an emerging issue, and one that we in baseball have to address as well as other sports.”
Alderson emphasized that the details have not yet been worked out, but variables such as positioning and intent will be considered, along with umpire discretion. More importantly, Alderson said that this isn’t just about a change of the rules but a change of attitude.
“Ultimately what we want to do is change the culture of acceptance that these plays are ordinary and routine and an accepted part of the game, that the risks and individual risks, the costs associated in terms of health and injury just no longer warrant the status quo.”
Amanda Rykoff will be covering the Winter Meetings this week for The Outside Corner. Follow @amandarykoff for Twitter updates.
