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MLB to Ban Home Plate Collisions

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Major League Baseball announced today that it had approved a ban of home-plate collisions where a runner attempts to knock the ball loose from a catcher. The deal still needs MLBPA approval to be official, and probably won’t be in play until the 2015 season.

As Matt Snyder of Eye on Baseball points out, this could lead to the enforcement of obstruction rules at the plate. Runners will have to slide into home when a catcher has a ball. However, the current rules state that catchers can’t block the base line when they don’t have the ball, even though that is common in baseball right now.

Pirates catcher Tony Sanchez isn’t a fan of the new rule change.

It is an exciting play when there’s a collision at the plate, although I feel that MLB is considering the injury risk involved here. The Cardinals will almost certainly benefit from this rule change, since it seems like Yadier Molina gets injured every year in a home plate collision.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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