Major League Baseball is working on a new rule pertaining to home-plate collisions and that's not sitting well with Miami Marlins players, according to the Miami Herald.
In recent years, there have been a few injuries suffered by catchers in MLB due to nasty collisions at home plate. The most famous one for Marlins fans should be easy to recall. In 2011, Scott Cousins ended Buster Posey's season with a violent takeout attempt. Posey was blocking the plate while Cousins wanted to score a run for his team. The unfortunate injury was just a part of the game though there were some who deemed it a "dirty play" at the time.
New Marlins' backstop Jarrod Saltalamacchia knows about the risk involved after seeing his teammate David Ross involved in a home-plate collision during the 2013 playoffs. However, he is against the new rule.
“I don’t agree with it. It’s been in the game since the beginning. You’re going to end up getting more people hurt than helped by trying to change the rules,” Saltalamacchia told the Herald.
The 2003 National League Division Series between the Marlins and San Francisco Giants ended when J.T. Snow plowed into Ivan Rodriguez for the final out of the game. Snow was attempting to knock the ball out of Rodriguez's hand but he failed to do so. That led to a dramatic moment where Rodriguez showed the ball firmly in his grasp as he was mobbed by his teammates. The Marlins headed to the Championship Series and the rest is history.
“It’s a part of the game that we have lived with for so long. As a baseball guy, it’s a part of the game I would rather not see go away," Jeff Conine said. Conine was the player who set up that collision in 2003 with a long throw from left field.
Sports
The question now becomes what if there was a rule against collisions back in that game? Would Snow have attempted to score knowing he would be beaten by the ball at the plate? If colliding with the catcher is not legal, Snow likely stays at third and the next batter gets a chance to possibly bring him in. The course of history could've changed and one of the most exciting plays in Marlins history would have never happened.
MLB wants collisions to no longer be a legal play in the game due to the risk involved. There also is a risk though in taking some of the competitiveness out of the game. It remains to be seen if the new rule which is still being finalized helps or hurts the game.
